Visions: The Third Uchiha
by xXToraUchihaXx
Summary: Tora is the older twin sister of Sasuke Uchiha. When her brother joins the Akatsuki he takes her with him. She is then kidnapped by Orochmaru. Years later she escapes and passes out in front of Konoha. How will Sasuke react to her return? And will Tora be able to melt the heart of a certain red headed sand shinobi?
1. Chapter 1

This is my first fanfiction. It would be great if you could review it. Hope you enjoy :)

-C.S.

Chapter 1

The rain comes down in a steady rhythm, obscuring my view. I wipe it out of my eyes as I continue to run. I force my legs to pump faster, I had to keep moving. I don't know how long I've been running or how far. I definitely don't know where I'm going. I really don't care. As long as I get away from him. The source of all my nightmares and cause of all my pain. The one who experiments on children and destroys all hope for them. My hand moves to my neck of it's own accord. Just thinking about him makes the stupid thing hurt. The ugly black mark sits upon my skin, a permanent reminder of his sick experiments. I have to stop soon before the pain becomes too much to bear.

I come to a stop in a large clearing surrounded by a dense forest. The only sound is the constant pitter-patter of the rain as it hits the ground and my ragged breathing. Ilean my back against a tree, the rough bark catching on my clothes as I slide into a sitting position. I look down at myself. My clothes are cover in bright crimson blood. It's not mine, at least I don't think it is. I can't feel any pain except for the curse mark. I hear a sound to my right. My eyes widen and I quickly get to my feet. As I do a wave of pain crashes through my body from the mark. The world around me starts spinning as I'm sucked into blackness.

_It's dark. The kind of dark that swallows everything whole and houses the monsters of your worst nightmares. Laughter echoes all around me, dark and sinister. "Ssssso, you thought you could essssscape," came his malicious voice to my left. "You're a naughty little girl." Now it's to my right. I whip my head around desperately trying to find him, but all I see is that all encompassing darkness. "I have a ssspecial punishment for you, it seems that your sssharingan will become mine sssooner than expected!"_

_ A blinding white light fills the room. My eyes take a second to adjust to the brightness, but when they do I wish the lights had stayed off. All around me around sharp instruments of torture gleam in the light. Right above me ishis gruesome, grinning face. My heart rate skyrockets as adrenaline pumps through me. I strain against my tight bonds, but it's no use. I can't break free and as I realize this a wave of terror goes through me. I strain against the bonds again, doubling my efforts._

_ "How about we begin? I'll explain the procccedure to you asss we go," his smile grew. "It'ss very sssimple. Firsssst, I'm going to ussse thisss," He holds up a suction type thing, "to sssuck your eyesss from their sssockets. Then I will use thisss," He places the suction thing down and picks up a serrated blade that glints wickedly in the light, "To sssever them from your head. Then I'm going to placcce them into a sssspecial ssssolution that will keep them 'alive'. After that, Kabuto will remove my eyesss in assssimilar fashion and replace them with yoursss. Any questions before we begin?"_

_ "D-do I get a-an anest-sthetic?" I curse myself for how weak and scared my voice sounds._

_ "No," he says laughing._

_ "Why not?" I ask my voice coming out stronger._

_ "Becausssse," he says with a sly smile, "It'sss more fun to watch you ssssquirm in pain."_

_ "You are one sick bastard, I hope you burn in Hell," I spat. He just chuckled and began moving towards my eyes with the suction. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me scream, but I couldn't help the ear-splitting screech that tore through my body. The suction got closer to my eye. 3 centimeters… 2…1… I braced myself for the pain._

I wake with a start to find myself in a hospital bed hooked up to beeping machines. My heart begins to race. He caught me! My eyes take stock of my surroundings and my heart instantly calms and my muscles relax. This isn't one of his labs, I'm not strapped down and the window to my left shows a beautiful view of a village. On a table to my right is a glass of water, but when I try to grab it my fingers slip right off.

The door creaks open to reveal a blond nurse. "Oh! You're up!" She exclaims and rushes to my bedside. "How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

"Water," I croak out. My throat feels like I swallowed a mouthful of sand. She grabs the glass from my bedside table and holds it to my cracked lips. I gulp it down greedily. "How long have I been out?"

"Three days," She says. "A team of shinobi returning from a mission found you unconscious in the forest just outside of the village. You were covered in black marks and blood so they brought you here to the hospital. I'll be right back, I need to go inform the Hokage that you've woken up." She rushes out of the room. The Hokage, which must mean I'm in Konoha. I'm home! I look out the window. It's still as beautiful as I remember.

I turn from the window as the Hokage enters the room. He looks exactly the same as he did when I was weary eyes study me as he steps in. "Hello." He says giving me a soft smile.

"Hi," I answer back uncertainly.

"I am the Hokage of this village and I was wondering if you would answer some questions for me?" He asks.

"I guess," I reply.

"Let's start off easy, what is your name?" Here it comes; he's bound to recognize me. I just hope he doesn't think that I helped my brother with the massacre.

"T-Tora…Uchiha," His eyes widen as soon as I say it.

"But how?" He asks. "I thought your brother killed everyone but Sasuke."

"Itachi… He took me with him to the Akatsuki. We were always close. Closer than anyone in our family. He was the only one who really loved me and he told me that while he could kill everyone else and leave Sasuke, he could never leave me behind." I explained.

"Start at the massacre and tell me everything," He demands.

"You might want to sit down this could take awhile." He takes a seat in a chair to my right and I launch into my story.

_A younger me slowly makes her way down the streets of Konoha. I don't want to go home. Mommy only pays attention to Sasuke and Daddy doesn't think I'm good enough because I'm girl. Sasuke hates me because I'm stronger than him and big brother pays more attention to me. Itachi's the only one that loves me there. He's the only one that knows my secret, the secret that I got my Sharingan a few years ago. Even though no Uchiha woman has gotten it in a couple hundred years._

_ I turn the corner to the Uchiha compound and my eyes widen at the sight before me. There are bodies everywhere and the streets are bathed in blood. I tear my eyes from the bodies of my relatives and look up to see a dark figure silhouetted in the moonlight further into the compound. A smaller figure falls to the ground in from of him. As if feeling my gaze on him the figure looks up. All I catch is a flash of red eyes before the darkness swallows me._

_ When I wake up I'm surrounded by cloaked figures. I instantly close my eyes, hoping they didn't notice I was upand listen to the conversation. "You were supposed to come alone," says a deep voice._

_ "I figured she could be a good addition." Says the unmistakable voice of my brother._

_ "How could a runt like that possibly be of use to us?" Another voice sneered._

_ "She's almost as strong as me," My brother explains emotionlessly. "And she has the Sharingan. Which I might remind you that no Uchiha woman has had in hundreds of years."_

_ "She can stay," Says the first voice. "But she works with you and Kisame."_

_ Time to make myself known. I think I should play the small, confused little girl. "I-Itachi?" I ask, my voice coming out as barely a whisper. "W-Where are w-we?"_

_ "Ah. I see you're up," he says in a monotone voice. "Tora this is the Akatsuki, an organization I joined. I decided to bring you with me."_

_ "O-Okay," I say in a small voice._

_ "So cute!" I hear someone whisper. I have to force myself not to smirk._

_ I stand up and look around me. There are ten people, including my brother. "So, who exactly are all of you?" I ask._

_ "I am Pein, leader of the Akatsuki." Says and orange haired man with piercings all over his face and purple gray eyes with black rings in them. I recognize him as the owner of the first voice._

_ "I'm Konan," says a pretty woman with short blue hair._

_ "Kakuzu," a man with creepy green eyes and a mask that covers most of his head says._

_ "Hidan," says a guy with slicked back grey hair, and a large three bladed scythe also the owner of the second voice that called me a runt. I'll have to remember to get back at him sometime._

_ "Sasori," says a…puppet? I shudder. I hate puppets._

_ "I'm Deidara, un!" Says a guy; well at least I think it's a guy. His blonde hair is so long!_

_ "Name's Kisame. I'll be working with you and your brother," says a blue guy with shark teeth and gills. I have to admit that's pretty awesome. He must be strong too, considering the big ass sword strapped to his back._

_ A man with pale skin and shoulder length black hair crouches down in front of me. His golden, purple rimmedsnake-like eyes glance over me before meeting mine. " I am Orochimaru and might I sssay what lovely eyesss you have?" I shudder as his cold hand touches my cheek. My brother's onyx eyes lock with my identical ones. The look on his face tells me that he wants me to stay away from this Orochimaru freak. Fine by me._

_ "Come on Tora, I'll show you to your room," says Itachi. Needless to say I was glad to be away from that creeper._

"I stayed with the Akatsuki until Orochimaru left. The night he left he injected me with something to cut off my chakra and knocked me out then took me with him. He wanted my Sharingan eyes. Well, originally he wanted to take Itachi's, but Itachi was too strong. A few days ago I broke out of his lair. I passed out while running and next thing I know I'm waking up here." The Hokage is silent after I finish my tale.

"What did Orochimaru do to you when you were with him?" He finally asks. The memories start to resurface, but I push them back because they're too painful.

"Please don't make me answer that. Those memories are still too painful," I say in a small voice.

"I won't make you answer anything you don't want to," he replies kindly.

"I can tell you this though. As a result of Orochimaru's experiments I have this weird… power. I have these… visions. Whenever someone touches me his or her entire life flashes before my eyes. I see their past. I've learned to control it most of the time and keep myself from doing it every time I touch someone, but whenever I come across someone with an extremely… sad past, I get sucked in. I guess you could say they have incredibly powerful pasts. Does that make any sense?" I ask.

"It's a little hard to understand, but I think I get the concept."

"Good, because it's even harder to explain."

"So, I have one more question. How would you like to become a shinobi here in Konoha?"

"I'd love to! But, can I have my own apartment? I don't want to go back to the Uchiha compound."

"Why not?" He asks curiously.

"Too many bad memories." I answer.

"Alright, I'll have it set up right away. And as soon as you get out of the hospital you can join your new team!"

"And what team would that be?"

He seems to think for a second, and then gives me a sly smile, like he knows something I don't. "Team 7!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Just sign here and you're free to go." The receptionist says. I pick up the pen and sign my name on the release form. I only spent one day awake at this hospital and it was the most boring day of my life. I hate hospitals, they remind me of Orochimaru's experimentation rooms. I turn away from the desk and notice a silver-haired shinobi approaching me.  
"Are you Tora Uchiha?" he asks.  
"Depends who wants to know."  
"Her new sensei," the man replies.  
"Oh, then in that case. Nice to meet you, my name's Tora!" I say brightly.  
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Kakashi Hatake." He says with a chuckle. "As I said before, I'm your sensei. The Hokage sent me to take you to buy some ninja tools and show you to your new apartment. After that we're going to go meet the rest of our team."  
"Cool," I say, "Lead the way." We walk out of the hospital and start heading down the busy streets of Konoha. "So, what's the team like?"  
"Well, I really don't know," he says while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "Today's the day the new genin get assigned to their teams. I have to go meet them at the academy, but I thought I'd pick you up and get your weapons first and then go to meet them. Actually we're late."  
"I don't want to make you late," I say in a worried tone. "We could always get my weapons after we meet the team."  
"Don't worry about it, I'm usually late. It will help them get used to it and teach them some patience." He says cheerily.  
"If you say so," I say skeptically.  
"Besides we're here," He says and ushers me into a shop to my left. Ninja tools line the walls and shelves. "Pick what you want, the Hokage gave me money to pay for it."  
"Sweet," I say as I browse the store. I pick up some shuriken and kunai as well as a weapons pouch and thigh sheath. I take them to the front of the shop where Kakashi is waiting for me.  
"Will this be all?" Asks the man behind the counter.  
"Yes," I say. Kakashi hands the man some money and we leave the shop.

"Are you sure this is the right room?" I ask Kakashi as I try to get the damn door to open.  
"Positive." He replies.  
"Well something's obviously wrong with this damn door! It won't open!"  
"Let me see the key." He says holding out his hand and I give him the stupid piece of metal. "Oops, I gave you the wrong key." He says giving an embarrassed laugh.  
"Then where's the right one!" I exclaim.  
"Hold on, let me check my pocket." He shoves his hand into the pocket of his pants and begins digging around. "Ah! Here it is!" He exclaims handing it to me.  
"Idiot," I mumble as I shove the key into the lock and sure enough, it fits! I push the door open and enter the apartment. It's small, containing only a bed, kitchen, and bathroom. I make my way to the bed and notice a small closet next to it. I open the door to find it filled with clothes! "How did these get here?" I wonder aloud.  
"The Hokage had someone go out and buy them for you," Kakashi says from behind me. "I believe the Uchiha crest has been put on all of the shirts too.  
"Awesome! Do you mind if I change before we go meet the team?"  
"Not at all," he says as he stops out of the apartment. I pick out a navy blue top with the Uchiha crest on the back and a mesh shirt to wear underneath it and put them on. I then pull on a pair of white shorts that end a little above mid-thigh, a pair of black ninja sandals and a pair of black fingerless gloves that go to my elbow. To finish off the look I tie my leaf headband around my waist like a belt and put on my weapons pouch and kunai sheath. I quickly tie my long, dark brown hair into a high ponytail with my bangs covering my left eye. I look in a full-length mirror on the wall. I hesitate for a second before pulling out the necklace that my mother gave me at birth, the only thing she ever gave me. It's an Uchiha crest charm on a silver chain.  
"Ready to go?" I ask Kakashi as I step out of my apartment and lock the door.  
"Yup," he answers.  
"Lead the way," I say gesturing for him to go ahead of me. The walk to the academy is filled with conversation and I can tell that I'm going to get along with Kakashi. We get to the academy and stop at a classroom door. I open it and begin to walk in when a chalkboard eraser falls on my head. I freeze mid-step and turn to glare at a stupid looking blond kid in an orange jumpsuit. "I'm guessing you're the one who did this," I say in a dangerously low voice.  
"So what if I was?" He says cockily.  
"I bet you feel really clever right now, don't you?" I growl.  
"I sure do! You didn't even see it coming!" He laughs.  
"Bet you didn't see this coming," I say and lunge towards him only to be stopped in midair.  
"Their called teammates Tora, not punching bags." Kakashi says releasing me.  
"Whatever," I mutter as I sit on top of a desk and look around. I notice that there are two other kids in here other than the blond idiot. One of them is a pink haired girl that looks like a wimp, but I try not to judge a book by its cover. She's drooling over the other guy in the room. He had raven black hair shaped like a duck's butt and looks like he has a stick firmly shoved up his ass.  
His eyes meet mind and I fell my breath catch in my throat. "S-Sasuke?" I whisper.  
"Oh no, not another Sasuke fan-girl," the blond kid whines. The pink haired girl gets in my face and starts ranting about how Sasuke's hers and that if I don't stay way from him she'll hurt me. As if she could even lay a finger on me, I'm too good. The entire time Sasuke stares at me with a confused look on his face.  
"Oh come on Duck-butt! You seriously don't recognize your own twin sister? I mean, we look exactly alike, except for our hair!" I know he hated me, but this is just ridiculous! His eyes widen as he finally recognizes me.  
"Tora!" In the blink of an eye I'm wrapped in his warm embrace. "I thought you were dead," he whispers in my ear. I awkwardly raise my arms and wrap them around his waist.  
"Could someone please tell me what's going on!" The blond kid yells, completely ruining our brother-sister moment. My brother releases me and I turn to glare at the idiot. Out of the corner of my eye I can see the girl glaring at me, probably jealous that Sasuke hugged me.  
"This," Sasuke says pointing at me. "Is my twin sister."  
"Older twin sister," I correct him.  
"Does it really matter?" He asks.  
"Yup," I say and turn to Kakashi. "So, um, what are we gonna do now?"  
"You're going to meet me on the roof." He says and disappears in a puff of smoke.  
I turn to my teammates. "See ya up there," I say and give them a mock salute before doing a transportation jutsu. "Hi Kakashi!" I say as I appear on the roof.  
"You can do a transportation jutsu?" He asks.  
"Yup, Itachi taught me," I say nonchalantly.  
"Why am I not surprised," he says as the door burst open and Sasuke, the girl, and the other guy come through. "So," Kakashi says in a bored tone as he sits on the railing. "Let's start by introducing ourselves."  
"What do you want us to say?" asks the girl.  
"Your name, likes, dreams, that sort of stuff."  
"Can you go as an example?" Does she really need an example? Is she really that stupid?  
"My name is Kakashi Hatake. My likes…well, I like a lot of things. As for my dream… you don't need to know that." I sweat drop, he's joking, right? "Okay, your turn." He says pointing at me.  
"Fine," I sigh, "I'm Tora Uchiha. I don't like a lot of things now, but I used to like to piss Itachi off because I was the only one who could get a reaction out of him. And for a dream, I don't really have one. I like to take things day by day." I see Sasuke's jaw clench at my mention of Itachi. Not to self, do not talk about Itachi in front of Sasuke.  
"Thank you Tora, now you." He points at the blond kid.  
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, BELIEVE IT!" He shouts. Kami, he's loud! I turn out the irritating blond and look up at the sky. My thoughts drift to Sasuke. He's changed so much. He doesn't seem as happy as he used to be. I know everyone's dead, but he could at least try to move on. I wonder if he still hates me. He did hug me earlier, but that was just because of the shock of finding out he still had a living relative.  
I tune back in as the pink haired girl starts talking. "My name is Sakura Haruno and I like," her eyes shift over to Sasuke, "Someone." I see Sasuke still has his fan-girls. I ignore the rest of her stuttering about "someone" until it's Sasuke's turn.  
"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I don't have time to like things and my dream… my dream is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I will kill a certain someone and avenge my clan!" Well, he's not over it yet. I forgave Itachi right away when he confessed to me what he did. He may not have told me his reasons for killing everyone, but I knew they must have been important.  
"So, what now?" I ask looking at Kakashi.  
"Meet me at the bridge tomorrow at 5am." He says, "Oh and don't eat breakfast." He sends me a closed eye smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke.  
"Tora," Sasuke says regarding me with cool eyes. "We need to talk." Shit. He's going to ask about Itachi. I can't tell him anything; I promised Itachi that if I ever found myself back in Konoha I wouldn't divulge any information about the Akatsuki to anyone, especially Sasuke.  
"I-I would love to, but I have to, um, go find, um, Kakashi so he can, uh, show me how to get back to my new apartment." Whew, dodged a bullet there.  
"Apartment?" He asks surprised. "You aren't going to live at the compound?"  
"I would, but there's just too many bad memories for me there." I say, then add quietly, "Not to mention you'll probably hate me when you find out about me Sharingan."  
"Oh," he says then lapses into silence.  
"Sasuke! Do you maybe want to go get something to eat with me?" Sakura asks him.  
"Hn, no." I see he has Itachi's amazing vocabulary.  
"I'll go get something to eat with you Sakura!" Naruto yells.  
"I wasn't talking to you baka!" She yells back as she hits him to the head. Ouch, poor guy. Sasuke then walks off and Sakura scrambles after him. I walk over to Naruto and regard him with sympathetic eyes. He still looks a bit out of it and has a huge lump on his head.  
"Hey Naruto," I say trying to get his attention.  
"She shut me down, again." He mutters to himself.  
"Naruto," I say again and he looks up at me. "Why don't we go get some ramen? I'll pay."  
His eyes widen, "Really?"  
"Yeah, it's no fun getting rejected by someone you like. So I, being you new friend, will cheer you up!" He just stares at me for a few minutes before jumping up with a huge smile on his face.  
"I know the perfect place we can go! They make the best ramen in the world!" He yells as he grabs my wrist. The world begins to swirl around me and Naruto disappears. The world then rights itself and I'm standing outside of the academy. A little blond boy sits on a swing with a sad expression on his face. There's a crowd of parents with their children and I can hear them whisper about him being the boy with the nine tailed fox demon inside of him. They then lean down to their children and tell them to stay away. Scene after scene of this boy's sad life pass before my eyes. Adults shun him and no children want to be his friend.  
I blink as I come back to the real world and I look ahead to see Naruto as he drags me down the street. That was his past. It's amazing how upbeat and positive he is even though he went through all of that. It's surprising that he doesn't think of himself as a monster, though judging from what I saw; he doesn't know what he is. We stop at a little shop called Ichiraku and Naruto pulls me inside. "Why hello there Naruto!" An older man says with a smile on his face. "What can I get you and your friend here to eat?"  
"A pork miso ramen with extra pork." He says.  
"I'll have the same," I say with a smile.  
"I'll have them ready in a few minute," the man says.  
"Okay!" Naruto says and turns to me. "So you're Sasuke's sister, why haven't I seen you before?"  
"I left with our older brother a few years ago and only recently returned. And before that I wasn't allowed to leave the compound because my dad was embarrassed by me." I answer.  
"Why was he embarrassed by you?" He asks.  
"He thought that I wouldn't amount to anything because I'm a girl. He never said a word to me and it got to be so bad that I stopped eating dinner with the rest of the family and ate in my room."  
"That must have been tough." Naruto says in a sympathetic tone.  
"It was," I say, "My older brother, he was the only one who cared about me. Because we were the head of the clan the rest of my family followed my father's example and ignored my existence. Even my own mother ignored me. Sasuke hated me. Itachi paid more attention to me than him. He, like everyone else, thought I was useless and didn't get why Itachi would pay so much attention to me." I can feel the tears threaten in my eyes, but I hold them back. "Sometimes, I would imagine what it would be like to have a family that loved me, but I always had to return to reality."  
"Here you kids go," the man says as he places our food in front of us.  
"Thank you," I say.  
"I understand how you feel," Naruto says sadly, "I grew up without parents and sometimes I would dream what it would be like for them to actually be alive, but morning always comes sooner or later." We eat the rest of our meals in silence. We finish and I put some money on the counter to pay for our food. "I guess it's time to head home," Naruto says.  
"Um, Naruto?" I say while scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.  
"Yeah?" He asks.  
"Well, um, I kind of, uh, don't know where my apartment is." I say giving an embarrassed laugh.  
"Really?" He asks in disbelief.  
"Well, I have the address, but I don't know how to get there."  
"Let me see the address," he demands. I hand him a piece of paper that I wrote my address down on. He reads it over and a goofy grin spreads over his face.  
"What?" I ask in confusion. "What is it?"  
He looks up at me and his grin widens. "Tora," he says, "You live right across the hall from me!"  
My own grin begins to form. "Really?" I ask and he shakes his head up and down. "That's so cool! I get to live by my new best friend!"  
"Not best friend," he says.  
"What?" I ask.  
"Brother. I'm going to be the brother Sasuke never was." He says seriously.  
"Really?" I ask a smile on my face.  
"Yup! Now let's go home!" He shouts and drags me down the street to our apartment building.  
"Night Naruto," I say as we stop outside our doors.  
"Night Tora," He replies giving me a hug, which I return. I enter my apartment and go straight to the shower. I dry my hair and change into a pair of shorts and a tank top. I crawl into bed and drift off to sleep with a smile on my face.


	3. Chapter 3

chapter 3 finally up! i forgot to do this before so I'm going to do it now. I do not own Naruto. I only on my character Tora and anything that i write that didn't happen in the anime/manga. Enjoy!

~C.S.

Bring, bring, bring! I jump as my alarm wakes me up and I search for the off button. I slam my hand down on top of the stupid clock multiple times, but it won't shut up! I grab it and throw it with all my might at the wall and it shatters to pieces. Looks like I need to buy a new alarm clock today. I roll out of bed with a groan and make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Ugh, stupid Kakashi making me wake up early. After throwing on some clothes and tying my hair up I make my way to the kitchen. Ignoring Kakashi's order to not eat breakfast I grab an apple.  
After finishing the apple I walk out of my apartment and lock the door behind me. I turn to leave and run into a body. "Sorry!" I say and look up to find a pair of familiar cerulean eyes. "Hey, Naruto!"  
"Hi Tora!" He says with a mischievous smile.  
"What are you thinking?" I ask.  
"Oh, I'm just wondering how pissed Sas-gay's going to be when he finds out we live across the hall from each other." His smile turns to a smirk.  
"Why would he be pissed?" I ask, "It's not like he cares about me."  
"If it were anyone else he probably wouldn't care, but because it's me he will be. He hates me." Naruto answers.  
"Why does he hate you?"  
"Well, yesterday before we got assigned teams I confronted him about thinking he's so much better than everyone else. I was crouched on the desk in front of him and some kid hit me and I fell forward and we… uh, kind of… kissed." He says with a red face.  
"You kissed!" I exclaim while laughing uncontrollably. "That's… that's just too funny!"  
"Hey shut up!"  
"Well, if he hates you from that he's going to be even more pissed to find out that you're now my unofficial brother!" I say with a smile on my face.  
"This is gonna be fun," he says.  
"Oh, shit! We're gonna be late if we don't get moving!"  
"Come on then!" He exclaims. "Here get on my back. I'll carry you there." He gets in front of me and crouches down so I can climb on. I jump on and he takes off running towards the bridge. I feel like there's something I'm forgetting. A reason why we don't have to rush. It hits me.  
"Wait!" I yell and Naruto stops. I jump off his back and turn to face him. "We don't have to worry about getting in trouble for being late because Kakashi told me himself that he's always late."  
"Really?" He asks.  
"Yup." I say.  
"You could have told me sooner," he says with a sweat drop, "The bridge is just around the corner."  
"Well I just remembered!"  
"Okay, okay calm down. Come on let's go." We walk around the corner and see Sakura and Sasuke standing there. Sakura was pestering Sasuke while he stood there looking annoyed. They catch site of Naruto and I and Sasuke glares at us. Naruto places his lips right next to my ear and whispers, "Act like I just said something funny and laugh." I giggle loud enough for them to hear and if looks could kill Naruto would be dead right now.  
"You' turn," I whisper in his ear. He laughs loudly and by now we had made it to the bridge. "Good morning Sausuke!" I say in a singsong voice. "Guess what I learned yesterday?"  
"Hn, what?" Wow, his vocabulary never ceases to amaze me.  
"Naruto and I are across the hall neighbors!" I yell while striking a ridiculous pose. My feet are spread apart and my right hand is fisted and pointing to the sky, while my left hand is on my hip. "I get to live by my unofficial brother!"  
"Believe it!" Naruto shouts striking a pose similar to mine. Sasuke's face darkens and I begin to get confused. He shouldn't be this mad, I mean it's not like he should care. I expected him to be annoyed, but not angry.  
"I'm not letting you live there. You're moving into the compound with me." He growls.  
"Since when are you the boss of me?" I sneer. "You can't tell me what to do!"  
"Yes I can! You're moving to the compound so I can keep an eye on you and protect you from idiots like him!" He shouts while pointing at Naruto.  
"Excuse me! Last time I checked you HATED me! Remember, I'm just a stupid and useless girl! I wish I was never taken and was still with Itachi!"  
"Itachi! He's a traitor! He killed our entire family!"  
"What does it matter to me? Those people weren't my family. I was nothing but a waste of space to them!"  
"I HATE YOU!" He shouts. "He killed everyone and you stayed with him!"  
"At least he loved me!" I scream as tears start to build in my eyes. You hated me and mom only paid attention to you! And don't get me started on dad. He thought I wouldn't amount to anything. He couldn't even stand to be in my presence and never acknowledged me! Itachi was the only one who cared!" I turn and storm off the bridge and sit down at the base of a tree a few feet away. I will the tears away, but one escapes and streams down my face. I look over at the rest of my team and see that Sasuke has his back to me.  
We wait silently for an hour until Kakashi finally shows up. "You're late!" Naruto and Sakura exclaim simultaneously.  
"Sorry, I got lost on the path of life." He says mysteriously.  
"Liar!" They yell. I silently stand up and make my way over to them. I keep my face blank and show no sign of being affected by mine and Sasuke's fight earlier.  
"Anyways, follow me to the training grounds," Kakashi says and starts walking. I walk next to him while the others are behind us. "What's wrong?"  
"Nothing," I say.  
"Come on Tora. I've only known you for a day, but I know you're never this emotionless." He says.  
"You're right," I sigh, "I'm never emotionless. Sasuke and I had a fight."  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
"Not really," I say.  
"Just know that I'm here to talk to if you need to."  
"I'll keep that in mind." We arrive in a training area by the KIA stone and stop. There are three wooden posts sticking out of the ground and we line up in front of them while Kakashi stands in front of us. "We are going to have a test," Kakashi says, "To determined if you will become official genin or not. It's very simple, all you have to do is get a bell." He holds up three silver bells that gleam in the sunlight. "Those who can't get a bell by lunchtime will be tied to a post with no lunch and be forced to watch the rest of us eat. Also if you can't get a bell you will be sent back to the academy."  
"But we already passed the graduation exam! You can't do this, it's not fair!" Sakura whines.  
"Oh, get over it." I say rolling my eyes. "He's the sensei, he can do whatever he wants as long as the Hokage approves it."  
"But there are only three bells and four of us!" She says.  
"So one person doesn't make it," I say in a duh voice.  
"Tora's right," Kakashi says. "At least one of you will be sent back to the academy."  
"That's not fair!" She whines again. She probably figures that it will most likelly be her.  
"Alright!" Naruto shouts. "I'll get a bell and become the next Hokage, BELIEVE IT!" He starts running at Kakashi who dodges his punch. Momentum carries Naruto forward and he lands on his face with his butt in the air.  
"Someone's a bit excited," Kakashi says, "I didn't even say go yet."  
"He's joking right?" I mutter.  
"Ready…Go!" We all scatter to find hiding spots, except for Naruto who was standing right… in the middle of… the field. Idiot.  
"You're going down old man!" He shouts. He charges at Kakashi and the silver haired jonin starts reaching into his kunai pouch. He wouldn't use weapons on an inexperience genin, would he? I mean he doesn't need to. Chances are he could take Naruto down with his eye closed. As Naruto get's closer Kakashi pulls his hand out to reveal… an orange book. Oh no, our sensei's a pervert! That's the stupid Icha Icha Paradise book that Deidara used to read. One time I thought it would be a good idea to steal it. When I saw what was inside I burned the book and washed my eyes multiple times in an attempt to unsee it. Needless to say Dei was pissed at me and Itachi was pissed at Dei.  
I must have missed part of the fight because next thing I know Kakashi is behind Naruto making a hand sign. "Secret technique: Thousand years of death!" Kakashi yells well sticking his finger up Naruto's… butt? Well, this is an odd fight.  
Naruto goes flying. "Multishadow clone jutsu!" He shouts and about 30 Naruto's appear. They rush at Kakashi and just as one of them is about to hit him, Kakashi substitutes himself with one of the shadow clones.  
"Which one is he?" Asks one Naruto and they then proceed to beat each other up.  
"You're him!"  
"No you are!"  
"I've got you now!"  
"Wait!" Shouts one of them. "Why don't we all disappear? The only one left would be Kakashi-sensei!"  
"Good idea!" They all exclaim and disappear in a puff of smoke. It was a good ides, if Kakashi had transformed instead of using substitution. The real Naruto looks around until he spots a bell in the grass by a tree.  
"Hehehe, he must have dropped this while we were fighting," he says heading towards the bell.  
"Oh, Naruto. It's a trap," I mutter under my breath. Does he seriously believe it's that easy or is he trying to trick Kakashi? Naruto reaches for the bell and gets stung up in the tree by his ankle. Kakashi appears in front of him and says something, but I'm too far away to hear it. A bunch of shuriken go flying at Kakashi from where Sasuke is hiding. He uses a substitution jutsu and I can feel his chakra move towards Sasuke's.  
I just doesn't make any sense. How are a bunch of inexperienced genin supposed to beat a jonin? While I could probably manage to get a bell from him, there's no way the other's can. There's got to be a catch. Something that he wants us to do. A high pitched scream interrupts my thoughts, most likely Sakura caught in a genjutsu. I guess I'm next. I feel Kakashi's chakra behind me and turn around to face him.  
"What did you make Sakura see?" I ask.  
"A bloody, beat up Sasuke," he says and I laugh.  
"Wasn't she the brightest mind I her class?" I ask. "Because if she was I feel bad for the other sensei's, their teams must be stupider than Naruto."  
"Yeah," He chuckles.  
"Look," I say seriously, " I know that I could probably get a bell from you, but there's no way the other three can. So there's got to be something more to this test than just getting a bell."  
"Is that so?" He asks raising an eyebrow.  
"Yeah, but I, uh, haven't really figured out what it is yet." I say with an embarrassed laugh. "That doesn't matter though, because it's my turn to fight. So bring it on old man!" I activate my Sharingan and his eyes widen in shock. Taking advantage of his surprise I quickly move forward and punch him in the stomach. He flies backwards and crashes into a tree. While he's distracted I make a clone and send her to hide.  
"So, you have the Sharingan," he says while getting up. "Looks like you'll be more of a challenge than that others."  
"You might want to get that Sharingan eye of yours ready," I say with a smirk, "I'm not holding back."  
"Oh really?" He asks while lifting up his headband to reveal his second hand Sharingan eye. Using my speed I sprint at him and throw a quick series of punches. He blocks them all and counters with a quick jab to my stomach. I jump back, avoiding his fist and make a series of hand signs.  
"Lightning style: Lightning Tiger!" I yell and lightning begins to crackle around my body. It separates and takes the shape of a tiger. The tiger charges at Kakashi who jumps back to avoid it. As he does, the clone I made earlier appears behind him and grabs a bell from his belt. Kakashi's eyes widen as he realizes that I just beat him. She grins triumphantly and throws the bell to me before disappearing in a puff smoke. I release my jutsu and my tiger fizzles out of life. "I win!"  
"Why is it that I'm not even the slightest bit surprised that you managed to beat me?" He asks. Just then I feel Naruto's chakra near where Kakashi left our lunch.  
"I think Naruto's doing something stupid." I say.  
"Well, then I better go stop him," Kakashi says with a smirk. "Oh, and good job! The test ends in a few minutes." He gives me a closed eyed smile and disappears. I hear the timer go off and slowly begin to make my way to the others. I look at the bell in my hand and remember what I was thinking of before Kakashi appeared. I may have been able to get the bell, but I'm still missing the point of this test. What is he really testing us on? I reach the others while they're in the middle of being chewed out by Kakashi. It has to be something essential to the team. Something that every team needs in order to function correctly.  
"I got it!" I yell and the others turn to face me.  
"Yeah, yeah. We all know you got a bell, no need to rub it in." Sakura says bitterly. I ignore her and turn to Kakashi.  
"It's teamwork, isn't it?" I ask. "The real reason for this test. You wanted us to come at you together and you purposely put one bell less to pit us against each other."  
"How'd you figure it out?" Asks Kakashi.  
"Analyzing the situation was the first thing Itachi ever taught me. He told me to analyze what was going on and come up with the best strategy to win. Or in this case, to figure out the hidden meaning."  
"Is there anything Itachi didn't teach you?" Sasuke sneers. I put my finger to my chin and think.  
"Well, Dei taught me how to make exploding clay animals and Sasori taught me how to use puppets to fight." I answer and ignore the glare I'm receiving.  
"Anyways," Kakashi says, "Tora is correct. The whole point of this exercise was to test your teamwork."  
"What do you mean?" Sakura asks. Kakashi begins to explain the importance of teamwork, but I'm too busy thinking about the past.

_"Hey Dei?" A 9 year old me asks while standing in front of the blond hair, blue eyed man.  
"Hm?" He glances up and gives me a questioning look.  
"Could you maybe teach me how you make those exploding clay birds?" I ask quietly.  
"And why should I, yeah?"  
"Because I'll… um, do whatever you tell me to… for a, uh, week." I finish weakly.  
"Make it two and we've got a deal, un." He says.  
"Okay!" I cheer and do a victory dance that causes the S-ranked ninja to smile. What can I say? I bring out the best in people, even criminals. "When can we start?" I ask, excitement evident in my voice.  
"How about we grab some lunch now, un, and start once we finish, yeah?"  
"Sounds good to me!" I shout and grab his hand to drag him off to get some food._

"I'll give you all another chance after lunch," I hear Kakashi say as I come back to reality. "So eat up, except Naruto doesn't get any as punishment for trying to eat early."  
"What!" Naruto yells as his stomach growls loudly. Wait. Has he been tied to that post the entire time? I mush have been deeper in thought than I thought. Sakura and Sasuke start eating and Kakashi goes to eat on his own. Of course, this is another test. He wants to see if we'll disobey his orders to help our teammate.  
"Here," I say holding out my untouched lunch to Naruto.  
"What are you doing?" Sakura shrieks, "Do you want us to fail?"  
"Seriously? You obviously don't get it. Allow me to enlighten you. If we want to beat Kakashi we need every advantage we can get. Naruto would be useless if we don't feed him." I explain.  
"Why can't we just let you get the bells? You did it before, so you can do it again." She says.  
"What if I'm not with you? You could all potentially die because you depended on my too much and ended up unable to defend yourselves."  
"Oh," she says, "In that case take some of mine too."  
"Here," Sasuke grunts holding his food out.  
"Aw, you guys," Naruto says with tears in his eyes.  
All of the sudden storm clouds form and Kakashi's voice booms out. "How dare you disobey me!" He appears in a flash of lightning. "You all…pass!"  
"W-what?" Naruto asks. Him and Sakura look ready to pee themselves and Sasuke sits as impassive as ever.  
"You pass," Kakashi says. I zone out as he explains to Naruto and Sakura the purpose of this test. I glance over at Sasuke. I wonder what's happened to him in the past few years to make him so emotionless. My thoughts wander to our fight earlier. I was so caught up in the heat of the moment that I didn't realize that I just ruined any chance of him not hating me.  
"Meet back here tomorrow at 7 am to begin missions," Kakashi says and disappears.  
"See ya tomorrow," I say giving my team a mock salute and transport myself home. I feel exhausted and go to take a little nap.  
When I wake up I'm starving. I decide to try and find some place to eat. As I'm walking down the street I catch of whiff of something delicious. I feel a smile start to spread across my face. Meat! My favorite food ever! I follow the scent to a Bar-be-que place. I'm about to walk in when a blond bimbo runs into me. "Watch where you're going!" She says in a nasally voice.  
"You're the one who ran into me!" I say trying to stay calm.  
"Me!" She exclaims. "Well, you do look like a piece of trash, I probably mistook you for one."  
"Excuse me. What did you just say, bitch?" I growl.  
"Oh, and you smell like one too!" She says wrinkling her nose in disgust. I open my mouth to give her a piece of my mind when a lazy voice breaks in.  
"There you are Ino. Come on, Chouji and Asuma-sensei are waiting for us," a boy with pineapple like hair says. He turns to me. "I'm sorry if she said anything that offended you, ugh, this is such a drag."  
They walk away and sit down with a man smoking a cigarette and a chubby boy. I take a seat as far away form them as possible and order one of everything off the menu. "Are you sure you can eat that much, sweetie?" The waitress asks.  
"Don't worry I can," I say. As she walks away I hear a loud squeal and look up to see Sasuke enter. The blond girl's attached to his arm in an instant. He just ignores her as his eyes search the restaurant. They stop when they land on me. He shakes the blond off and makes his way over to me. Out of the corner of my eye I can see every girl in the restaurant glaring at me.  
"Tora," He begins, "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted to Naruto living across the hall from you. You just sounded so happy to live near him and you didn't want to live with me, then you called him your brother. I got jealous and couldn't help but feel that you liked him more than me. And I'm sorry that I made you believe that I hated you when we were younger. The truth is I loved you and I still do, but I got so caught up in trying to get Father's approval that I started to act like he did towards you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Oh, Sasuke." I say, "Of course I forgive you! You're my twin and I love you. I thought you hated me and didn't want me to live with you. I can't go back to living at the compound though, I don't want to remember how unwanted and unloved I felt there."

He sits down on my side of the table and wraps his arms around me and I instantly wrap mine around him. "I'm so sorry," he whispers into my hair.

"I love you Duck-butt," I whisper and feel his chest vibrate with laughter at the use of my old nickname for him.

"I love you too." We talk and laugh for the rest of the night. It was actually pretty funny to see of all of the glares I received from Sasuke's fan-girls. He walks me home and I hug him in front of my door.

"Goodnight Sasuke," I say into his chest.

"Goodnight Tora, I love you," he replies.

"Love you too," I say as he releases me. I unlock my door and go in. I collapse on my bed and fall asleep the instant my head hits the pillow.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Sakura, position A," Comes her irritating voice through the headset.

"Sasuke, position B."

"Naruto, position C!" We all cover our ears as his loud voice fills the speakers.

"Naruto, not so loud," Kakashi's voice scolds.

"Um, did you say it was brown with a bow on the left ear?" I ask.

"Yeah, why?" Asks Kakashi.

"Because it's rubbing against my legs and purring," I say and pick up the brown kitty. I start scratching behind her ear causing her to purr louder.

"I wanna hold the kitty!" Yells Naruto as he runs over and grabs her from me. As soon as he touches her she starts to hiss and claw at him. "Ow, ow, OW!"

I would take the cat from him but I'm too busy laughing. I clutch my stomach and double over because it hurts, but I can't stop. Things like this have been happening to Naruto ever since we started missions. Every chore we had to do Naruto turned into a contest against Sasuke. It hasn't gone very well for him. He got beat up by some lady when he pulled out the plants along with the weeds in her garden and then he had to be saved by Sasuke when he went over the edge of a waterfall. It was a huge blow to his ego.

"Here Naruto," I say and take the cat from him. She calms down instantly and starts to purr again.

"Mission complete," Kakashi says, "Let's head back."

"Oh my little Tora!" Coos a rather large woman as she squeezes the life out of the cat. The more the cat struggles the tighter the woman holds on. I don't blame the cat for running away. "Mommy missed her little Tora. Yes she did, yes she did!"

Naruto bursts out laughing. "What's so funny?" I ask.

"T-the cat has the s-same name a-as you," he says in between laughter. "I'm imagining you as the one being crushed!" His laughing stops instantly as my fist collides with his face sending him crashing into the wall.

"Baka," I grumble under my breath.

"Okay," says Iruka. I found out when we started missions that he's a chunin that teaches at the academy. "For your next mission we have babysitting, trash pick up, deliv…"

"No!" Naruto shouts as he forms his arms into an X in front of his body. "I don't want anymore of these stupid chores! I'm a ninja now. Not some stupid little kid, give me a real mission!"

"Now that mentions it, I'm kind of sick of these stupid missions too," I mutter under my breath, but I know they all heard me.

Iruka just about has a heart attack at Naruto's words. He then proceeds to lecture us on how missions are ranked. D rank are the easiest and are performed by genin. C and B rank are for chunin while jonin and Anbu complete the A and S rank missions. He was still ranting and Naruto wasn't even paying attention. He's saying something about what kind of ramen he's going to get tonight.

"So, you want a harder mission?" The Hokage's voice cuts in.

"Yeah!" Naruto says and the rest of us nod our heads in agreement.

"Okay," he sighs. "I'm giving you a C rank escort mission!"

"But Lord Hokage," Iruka starts but to Hokage shuts him up with a sharp look.

"All right!" Naruto cheers. "Who are we escorting? A princess? A prince? Or is it a king?"

"You'll see," the Hokage chuckles. He turns to a ninja by the door. "Go get our guest."

"Yes Lord Hokage." He says and disappears through the door behind us. A few seconds later he coms back with an old man in tow. He's carrying a bottle covered by a brown bag and by the smell of him he's drunk.

"Whaaat?" He drawls. "These are my escorts? They're just a bunch of stupid looking brats. Especially the short one with the stupid look on his face."

Naruto starts laughing. "So, whose the short one with the stupid…" He breaks off realizing that the old man meant him. His face goes bright red with anger. "Why you!" He shouts running at the old drunk. Before he can make it two steps he's stopped by Kakashi who holds him in the air by his jumpsuit collar.

"Now Naruto," he says in a civil voice. "Our mission is to protect the client, not kill him." The man ignores what just happened and continues his rant.

"And the little girl there," he says pointing at me. "She probably couldn't even hurt a fly! How is she supposed to protect me?"

My face darkens with every word that comes out of his mouth. "He. Is. Dead." I growl lunging at the man. I feel my movement stop as Kakashi grabs me, letting go of Naruto in the process. "Let. Me. Go." I struggle against him, but as strong as I am, Kakashi's stronger.

"Calm down Tora!" He exclaims.

"But he deserves it!" I shout.

"Okay," Kakashi says, "I'm going to take Tora to calm down and we'll meet you at the gate to leave in an hour."

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," they say in unison. Creepy… Kakashi then proceeds to drag me from the room and towards my apartment while ignoring the strange looks we were getting from the people we were passing.

"Kakashi! My old rival!" A loud voice calls out when we're almost to the apartment building. A man clad in green spandex, with a bowl haircut and EXTREMELY bushy eyebrow appears in front of us. I hear Kakashi sigh while I burst out laughing.

"Hi Gai," Kakashi says in a bored tone. "What do you need?"

"Ah, why so serious Kakashi? I just came to challenge you in front of my students!" Kami! He's worse than Naruto! He gestures grandly behind him to three kids. Two of them, a girl with brown hair in two buns and a guy with long brown hair and pupil less eyes, look like they want to be anywhere but here. The other kid is an exact copy of the man standing in front of me. He has a million watt smile on his face and is muttering something about how great his sensei is.

"Ah," says Kakashi, "As much as I would love to, we have a mission and hove to go. Come on." He turns to me and gives me a look that says move NOW!

"Who is this youthful flower?" Gai shouts while pointing at me. Kakashi opens his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.

"None of your damn business." I say coldly. He's taken aback by my response. "Come on Kakashi. Don't want to be late. The sooner we get that old drunk home, the better." I brush past Gai ignoring the strange looks his students are giving me and continue on with Kakashi on my heels.

"What was that about?" He asks when we were away from them.

"Well, um unless I'm around our team or someone I respect I get cold. It's a defense I developed with the Akatsuki because we were supposed to act like heartless monsters unless there was no one else around but our fellow Akatsuki." I try to explain. "It's like how shy people open up around friends, but go all quiet around strangers. Except I act like a cold, heartless bitch until I know I can trust them. Does that make any sense?"

"But you opened up to me and the team right away," he says.

"One of the most important things for a team is trust, right? So I took a leap of faith and decided to trust you guys right away." He nods his head in understanding and we walk the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.

"You know, you don't have to baby-sit me," I sigh when we reach my door. "The old man isn't here."

"That may be true," he says. "But if you get to the gate before me Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto wont be able to hold you back."

"But Naruto attacked too and he's not being baby-sat!" I whine.

"Yes, but Naruto isn't capable of killing him, while there is no doubt in my mind that you could and would if given the chance."

"Whatever," I mumble as I unlock the door and go inside. Kakashi waits in the kitchen are while I pack my things. I then grab a few things of instant ramen and Kakashi gives me a weird look. "They're for Naruto," I explain. "If where we're going doesn't have ramen he'll complain about it the entire time and I don't want to listen to it."

Once I'm all packed and ready to go I turn to Kakashi. "Let's go."

We head off in the direction of his apartment at a slow pace. "So," Kakashi starts. "What do you think of the team?"

"Honestly, Naruto needs to stop trying to beat Sasuke. Rivalry can be good, but not when it gets in the way of the team's performance. Sakura needs to get her head out of the clouds. I know my brother and he isn't looking for a girlfriend, he's only looking for revenge. Sasuke needs to stop acting like he's better than everyone else. The sooner he realizes he isn't the best, the sooner our team can function better." I glance over at Kakashi to see his reaction to my words.

"You're absolutely right. I couldn't have said it better myself. They don't realize that their actions could harm the team and potentially lead to the death of a teammate in the future."

"I know and if that teammate happens to be me I will turn into a ghost and haunt their asses for the rest of their lives!" I joke.

Kakashi chuckles and says, "We're here."

His apartment is pretty much the same as mine except slightly bigger. He takes his time getting his supplies together and packing them. I take a seat in one of the chairs around the table in his kitchen. My eyes follow him as he goes around the room. "So," I say, "We talked about the rest of the team, but not me. What's your opinion of me?"

"You're an exceptional ninja, you should be a chunin, maybe even a jonin. You remind me of myself. I was just as strong as you when I was your age and moved through the ranks quickly." He says.

"Who's your favorite student?" I ask.

"You," he replies while zipping his bag shut. "Come on, we have to get going or we'll be late."

"Okay. Why am I you favorite?"

"Because you don't give me a headache like the others and I know that out on missions I can depend on you, even if things go bad." He answers. I feel a warm feeling in my chest at the compliment. No one's ever really believed in me completely before, not even Itachi.

I give him a toothy smile. "Then it's a good thing I'm on your team because you can't depend on the others for anything."

"That's for sure," he chuckles.

When we get to the gate everyone is already there, even the old drunk. "So, where are we going?" I ask Kakashi.

"If you weren't in such a blind rage you would have heard." He teases.

"It was his fault!" I huff gesturing to the old man who was now in an argument with Naruto. "And did he give his name?"

Kakashi laughs. "You really were in a blind rage, weren't you?"

"I don't like being called weak." I mumble. "Now answer my questions!"

"We're headed to the Land of Waves. That's Tazuna and he's the master bridge builder in charge of building a bridge from the Land of Waves to the mainland."

"And we're protecting him from?"

"Thieves and bandits."

"Oh joy," I say sarcastically.

"Okay team!" Kakashi says gaining everyone's attention. "Let's head out."

I walk in the back next to Kakashi. Sakura's attempting to walk by Sasuke and Naruto was in front bursting with energy while Tazuna just staggers along taking swigs from his drink periodically.

I'm bored out of my mind. Kakashi's reading his perverted book and the others are just being annoying. Everything looks the same, dry dirt road surrounded by a thick forest of trees.

I'm imagining what it would be like to strangle Sakura just to shut up her annoying, whiney voice, when I notice a puddle in the middle of the road. It hasn't rained in days. Either this is a joke or these ninja are really stupid. I glance at Kakashi to see that he's noticed it too.

I can tell exactly what he's thinking. Who are they after? The bridge builder or us? He's got a plan. I begin to lag behind.

As we walk by the puddle two ninja jump out and wrap chains around Kakashi. The whip their arms back, tightening the chains and crushing him. There's a puff of smoke and the ninja turn to us with a triumphant glint in their eyes thinking they got him.

They really are stupid; he just used a substitution jutsu. One turns and throws his claw chain at Naruto who freezes up. "Naruto move!" I shout at him. He's too far away; even at my fastest I wouldn't make it in time! Luckily Sasuke steps in front of him and blocks it with his kunai, deflecting the claw into a tree. He turns around and smirks at Naruto. He says something that I can't make out, but it has to be mean because Naruto looks pretty anger.

The ninja frees his claw and he and his partner rush at Tazuna. Sakura gets in front of him with a kunai. I rapidly begin to make hand signs, there's no way Sakura can stop them. Sasuke appears in front of them as I yell, "Wind Style: Wind Bullet Jutsu!" Two bullets of chakra infused wind shoot out of my mouth and collide with the ninja knocking them into the trees. I then sprint forward and grab the chains and wrap them around the ninja to tie them up.

Kakashi appears next to me. "Good job Tora," he says ruffling my hair a bit.

"That was nothing," I say nonchalantly, "But at least we know who they were after." My eyes flick to the bridge builder as I say the last part. He gives a subtle nod and turns to the others.

"Sasuke good job, you too Sakura. Naruto, I'm disappointed that you froze up like that. And Mr. Tazuna you have some explaining to do. After we get the poison out of Naruto." Kakashi says.

"What?" Shouts Naruto.

"Their claws had poison on them," I say, "And there's a cut on your hand." I turn back to the ninja and block out Naruto's speech. Something about redeeming himself. "Who sent you?" I ask the ninja. My question is met with silence. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

I activate my Mangekyo and look straight into their eyes using the Tsukuyomi. We then enter what I like to call my land of nightmares. Everything's red and black. We're in a forest similar to the one in the real world we were just in and the two ninja are still tied to a tree.

"So here's how this is going to work." I say in a chilling voice as my Akatsuki training kicks in. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know or these tigers are going to eat you." At my command two black tigers with blood red stripes emerge from the trees. "Oh and just so you know, you can't die here and the torment will last for 72 hours straight." I give them a wicked grin. "Now, who do you work for?"

Silence. I give a low whistle and the tigers stalk forward eyeing their prey. I give another whistle and they lunge at the ninjas tearing into their throats. Screams pierce the air and allow this to go on for 10 hours. I whistle again and the tigers back off. "Let's try this again. Who do you work for?"

"Z-Zabuza Mo-momich-chi." One of them chokes out and my eyes widen. He's one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, like Kisame.

"Who is he working for?" I ask.

"W-what do you m-mean?"

"Who hired him to kill the bridge builder?"

"W-we don't know. He j-just told us our t-target. We d-don't ask questions." I can tell by the terror in his words that he wasn't lying.

"Because you were so forthcoming with the information, I'll allow you to live." I give a vicious smile and whistle for my tigers to attack.

"Y-you said you wouldn't k-kill us!" One of them cries.

"I said I wouldn't kill you. I never said that I wouldn't continue the torture. Have fun boys." I smile and pull out of my world as my tigers leap at them.

Coming back to the real world I notice that Kakashi's bandaging Naruto's hand. "Let's get moving then." He says and stands up. Damn, I missed their conversation. Now I have to ask Kakashi what I missed and he'll never let me live it down.

I drop back next to the silver haired man as we start walking. "So, have I ever told you what and amazing sensei you are?" I ask.

He lets out and audible sigh and turns to me. "You didn't hear any part of the conversation with Tazuna, did you?"

"Um… maybe." I say scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

"In short, a man hired rough ninja to kill Tazuna so that he wouldn't finish the bridge and the Land of Waves will remain secluded from the mainland. He's a business tycoon that controls all of the overseas trade in the Land of Waves."

"Makes sense. Just be on the lookout. The main rouge in charge is Zabuza Momichi." I say.

"How do you know?"

"While you were listening to the old man, I was interrogating the rouges I caught." I say with a smile.

"Did I ever tell you how glad I am that you're on this team?"

"Yes, but it's always nice to be reminded."  
"Tora! Hey Tora!" Naruto shouts from ahead. "Come walk with me!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" I yell back. As I run to catch up to him I notice Sasuke glaring at him. "Sasuke torture time?" I ask brightly.

He nods giving me a bright smile. "Gotta make up for his scardy cat comment."

"You really wanna get on his nerves?" I ask and he nods his head vigorously. "You can do one of three things. Put your arm around me, hold my hand, or give me a piggy back ride."

He was silent as he thought about which one to choose. He speeds up so he's walking in front of me. "Hop on!" He calls over his shoulder.

"Yay!" I cheer and jump on his back. I wrap my legs around his waist and lock my arms around his neck. Sasuke starts to turn red with rage and Naruto and I are laughing our asses off.

When we reach the boat that's going to take us to the Land of Waves I hop off Naruto's back. We get on the boat and I go to sit next to Naruto when Sasuke pulls me back. "You're sitting next to me," he growls.

"Why?" I ask in mock innocence.

"To keep you away from the idiot and…" he trails off eyes flicking to Sakura.

"You're using me as a shield!" I exclaim. He just gives me the infamous Uchiha smirk that we both have and sits down, pulling me with him.

I fall asleep on the boat ride missing the rest of Tazuna's story. I know because when I wake up stupid Kakashi's giving me a look that tells me he's never going to let me forget this one. Bastard…

When we get off the boat we begin walking to Tazuna's house. Naruto keeps jumping and scaring Sakura. We pass by a lake when Naruto throws a kunai into the bushes. It's just a bunny.

"Why'd ya have to scare us like that?" Sakura shouts as she hits Naruto on the head.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto cries and begins apologizing to Sakura and the bunny.

I fell a slight change in the wind. "Everyone DOWN!" I yell. We all drop dragging the bridge builder with us. Something passes over our heads and embeds itself in the tree. I look up to see it's a huge ass sword and standing on top is the Demon of the Mist.

Yeah! Chapter 4 is up! I'm so happy. Please review and follow. I mean over 100 views and only about 6 people bother to follow it -_-' I will never understand the world. Anyways, please, please, PLEASE check out my new story Like High School Didn't Suck Enough Already (Konoha High Fanfic.)

Also check out Three Wishes and Never Love Again by my best friend Aoi Kitsune12 they're really awesome stories and I'm absolutely in love with them! Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and find my writing worth reading

~C.S.


	5. Chapter 5

I glare up at the man on the sword. I've never met the guy, but I've heard a lot about him from Kisame. One thing being that he's a lot weaker than him. Then again, Kisame says that about everyone. "Zabuza Momichi," comes Kakashi's voice. "The Demon of the Mist."

"I see that my reputation has preceded me." His voice sounds like gravel being crunched together. "Though I must say it is an honor to meet you Kakashi Hatake. The Copy Cat Ninja."

"Team protect the bridge builder," Kakashi says and Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke form a triangle around Tazuna. I look Kakashi in the eye asking a silent question. He gives a curt nod and I disappear into the trees, hiding my chakra. I find a good vantage point high in a tree and wait. If Kakashi needs help I'll jump in and take Zabuza by surprise, but for now I watch.

I can see Naruto arguing with Kakashi's orders. He probably told them to stay out of it and let him fight. It kind of reminds me of when I was with the Akatsuki. I was purely back up, but I always argued because I wanted to fight.

_ "Please Itachi!" I whine hanging on his cloak._

_ "No."_

_ "Pretty please?" I ask giving him the cutest look I can._

_ "Tora," my brother sighs. "I said no."_

_ "But I wanna fight!"_

_ "You're too young. You'll get hurt." He responds emotionlessly._

_ "No I wont!" I argue._

_ "Look, the agreement was that you could come on the mission, but only as back up. You stay back and if we need you we'll signal."_

_ "Don't worry kid," Kisame says. "You're not gonna miss anything. The target's not even a ninja."_

_ "Now stop arguing and take your position." Itachi says._

_ "But you guys never need back up!" I turn and stomp off grumbling insults under my breath._

I come out of my memories to Sakura's shrill voice shouting, "Kakashi-sensei!" Damn it! I zoned out again! I look down and see Kakashi trapped by Zabuza in a water prison. Looks like it's time to step in and save the day.

I coil my muscle in my legs, ready to spring forward. I push off the tree branch and just as my feet leave it I come to a stop. My hands fly up to my neck where my shirt collar is cutting off my air supply and my legs flail around uselessly. How did someone get behind me? I'm sure Zabuza was alone. Damn it! A large blue hand clamps over my mouth as I prepare to scream. Stupid person with blue skin, when I get free they are so dead. Wait, blue skin? My body instantly relaxes as I realize who it is.

The hand releases me and I turn around to see the sharp tooth smile of Kisame. He puts one finger to his lips and motions for me to follow him. I shake my head and gesture to my team who were currently trying, and failing, to free Kakashi. He mouths the word sorry to me with an apologetic look. I look at him in confusion. What does he have to be sorry about? Understanding dawns on me just as his hand connects with the back of my neck and I'm swallowed by darkness.

A cold sensation quickly spreads through my body disrupting my dreamless sleep. My eyes snap open as little bumps of flesh rise on my arms. A violent shiver goes through my body and I glare at the stupid, blue bastard that's doubled over laughing. "You. Are. So. Dead." I growl through gritted teeth.

I spring forward and tackle him to the ground. He was laughing so hard that he couldn't defend himself. My fingers close around his gilled neck, cutting off his air supply. His face slowly turns a deep shade of purple. "I-Itachi…help…m-me!" He chokes out.

"I told you it was a bad idea it was a bad idea." Itachi sighs coming into view. "Tora let go of him."

"But he splashed cold water on me!" I exclaim. "He deserves it!"

"Tora! I said let him go!" He says sharply.

"Fine," I grumble letting go of Kisame's neck. He begins gasping in lungfulls of air. I back up and examine my captors. They look exactly the same as they did years ago. Kisame still has his shark like features and big ass sword. While Itachi still has his blank face and dark empty eyes that rarely show emotion. "Why did you guys kidnap me?" I ask.

Tora you went missing for years," Itachi sighs. "We felt your chakra earlier and decided to check it out. We all though Orochimaru had killed you."

"Can you blame us for wanting to talk to you?" Kisame asks. "You may be a brat, but you're still like a little sister to everyone in the Akatsuki. Though most of them would rather die than admit it."

"I'm sorry," I apologize. "I'm just worried about my team. They aren't strong enough to beat Zabuza. The only one who can is Kakashi and he was trapped."

"They'll be fine," Kisame says. "Zabuza isn't that strong."

"Maybe for you, but not for a bunch of genin." I say.

"What happened to you after Orochimaru took you?" Itachi asks.

A shiver runs through my body as the memories start to resurface. Sharp objects, sterile rooms, and pain, lots of pain. The damn snake didn't believe in anesthetics. "He took me to his lair and experimented on me. I bid my time and waited for the perfect moment to escape. As I was running I passed out in front of Konoha and the Hokage asked if I would become a Shinobi. I said yes and ended up on Team 7 with a lazy sensei, a blond idiot, who is now like a brother to me, a pink haired fan-girl, and a duck-butt haired, egoistical, jerk." I answer. "And for some dumb reason they've all grown on me."

Itachi's eyes widen a fraction of an inch at my mention of Sasuke. "What kinds of experiments?" Asks Kisame.

"Terrible one's," I say in a strained voice. The memories hit me full force and salty tears begin to flow from my eyes. A sob escapes me as my legs give out and I fall to the ground.

A strong pair of arms wrap around me and I turn my head to sob into their chest. "It's okay," Itachi whispers in my hair. "You're safe now. He can't hurt your anymore." I love these moments when Itachi decides to show emotion. It lets me know that my big brother is still in there somewhere.

"Thanks Itachi," I whisper back wiping my eyes. "I have to go. My team'll be worried about me if I'm gone too long."

"Okay" he says then whispers in my ear. "I love you, Tora."

"I love you too, Itachi." I whisper back and turn to Kisame. "Bye Fishy-Chan!" I sing.

"Don't call me that," he says pretending to be mad, but I know he secretly likes the nickname. "Bye Brat." He ruffles my hair and then he and Itachi disappear.

"Now to find the others," I mutter to myself. I search the surrounding area for their chakra. I pick up on Kakashi's about two miles away. There are six others with him. I immediately recognize four of them as Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna. One of the remaining two's chakra is very faint, I assume it's Zabuza. But… I have no idea who the last person could be.

I take off at a sprint. Everything around me blurs into a mix of greens and browns. I pump chakra to my legs to run faster and use my arms to push branches out of my way. I make it to them in less than a minute and appear at Kakashi's side. I notice a tracker ninja jumping away with Zabuza on his back. That's odd; tracker ninjas usually dispose of a body right away. Oh, well.

"Why didn't you jump in when I was trapped in the water prison?" Kakashi asks. I notice that everyone is watching me now, like they just realized I was there. I plan on telling Kakashi about my meeting with Itachi and Kisame, but I can't do it with Sasuke standing right here. Who knows what he'd do.

"I, um, figure that… um, they could handle it." It comes out sounding more like a question. "I mean, after all Naruto did get his chance at redemption." I hope, because if he didn't they'll know I'm lying.

"Yeah! I did!" Naruto shouts, diverting everyone's attention from me as he asks Sakura if she saw what he did.

"You wanna tell me what really happened?" Asks Kakashi in a low voice so that the others won't hear.

"Later," I reply. "When certain people can't hear." My eyes flick to Sasuke who is staring blankly at Naruto. He nods once and looks at the rest of our team.

"Alright guys, let's get moving." As he takes his first step his eye rolls back into his head and he falls forward.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screams. Kami, is that all she can do? I move quickly and catch his body before his face smacks on the ground. I put his arm around my shoulder to support his weight and turn to Tazuna.

"Take us to your house." I say. He nods and leads us in the direction of his home.

Walking sucks, but walking while carrying a full-grown man sucks even worse. "How much farther?" I pant.

"Not far," Tazuna replies. "It's just ahead.

We emerge from the trees to see a nice looking house with a dock in front by the river. Tazuna opens the door and holds it for me as I drag Kakashi through. "I'm home!" He yells.

A woman comes out of the kitchen but I didn't pay attention to her. "Where can I put him?" I ask through gritted teeth. Damn, Kakashi's really heavy.

"Right this way," Tazuna says leading me through the house to a bedroom. I carefully lay Kakashi on the bed and stretch.

"Let's let him rest," I say to Tazuna. "He deserves it." I turn to walk out of the room and it starts to spin. The effects of using my Mangeyko are finally kicking in. Not to mention carrying Kakashi here. I shake my head to clear up the dizziness and once it subsides I start to walk. I don't even make it three steps before I pass out from exhaustion.

Sorry about the short chapter. Please don't hate me for it! The next one will be longer I promise, but at this point in writing this story I'm so excited to get through the Zabuza saga and start the chunin exams so Tora can meet Gaara! I can't wait for that part! And for anyone else who can't wait for our lovely heroine to meet her prince charming it will be in chapter 7 (When I get there) So it's really close. Enjoy my extremely short chapter.

~C.S.


	6. Chapter 6

A shock of cold goes through my body as I am again woken up by someone pouring water on me. My eyes open and I glare at my idiot sensei. "Training in 10 minutes and breakfast is on the table." He says with a closed eye smile as he hobbles out of the room on his crutch.

I get up go to my pack. I strip off my wet pajamas and pull out my clothes. I pull my hair out of my ponytail and it falls to my mid-back with slight waves in it. I run my fingers through it to get out the knots and use a black bandanna to hold it back from my face. As I walk out of the room a little kid runs past me with tears streaming down his face. I stare down the hallway in the direction he went with a confused look. Whatever, I shrug and make my way to a kitchen. My stomach growls as the scent of food floods my senses. Everyone looks up as I enter. "She lives!" Naruto shouts dramatically.

"Shut up," I grumble and take a seat. A woman with long black hair places a plate of food in front of me.

"I'm Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter." She says with a smile.

"Tora," I say returning her smile. "It's nice to meet you."

Tsunami was just telling us about her husband that was killed by Gato, the tycoon that hired Zabuza," Kakashi says.

"Yes," Tsunami says sadly. "He was the only person that stood up to Gato and ended up dead for it. They killed him in front of the entire village to make an example of him." I notice tears form in her eyes and I stand up and give her a hug.

"Well, then it's a good thing we're here to stop him," I say with a reassuring smile.

"Yes… it is." She returns my smile.

"Hurry up and ear Tora." Kakashi says. "We need to train, Zabuza is still alive."

"I figured as much," I mutter.

I eat my food quickly and we leave the house to train in the woods. We stop in a clearing in the trees. "Alright," Kakashi says, "I want you to climb a tree."

"How will climbing a tree help us train?" Naruto asks.

"I want you to climb it without using your hands," he answers. Heh, easy. I walk over to a tree and send chakra to the bottoms of my feet.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Sakura asks.

"Like this," I say as I begin to walk up the trunk. I smirk when I notice the looks of awe on their faces, even the ever-emotionless Sasuke.

"Well you've got it down," Kakashi says, "I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

"Can I train by myself?" I ask.

"Sure, just be back by sunset for dinner." Kakashi says.

I nod and begin to walk away, heading east of the clearing. "Oh and if you hear any explosions, don't worry!" I call over my shoulder. I keep walking until I'm a good 4 miles from them and stop. I grab a kunai from my holster, walk over to a cluster of trees, and carve some targets into their trunks. I walk about 30 feet away and pull some exploding clay from my weapons pouch.

I rip off a chunk and place it in my mouth. I begin to chew and suppress the urge to gag. The clay taste like dirt and the squishy texture isn't helping. Deidara's lucky he has mouths on his hands; it probably makes this a lot easier. After about a minute of chewing I take the clay out of my mouth and begin to mold it. When I finish it's in the shape of a bird.

I make a hand sign and the bird comes to life. Now for the part I haven't exactly perfected yet. I use all of my concentration and maneuver the bird towards the targets. The bird's movements are slow and awkward, but it eventually makes it. I form my hand into another seal and the bird explodes in a brilliant flash of light. All that remains of the tree is a charred stump. I smirk in triumph; this is the first time the clay's actually exploded! When Dei taught me he only told me how to sculpt them and said that I'd have to figure out how to make them explode on my own.

After a few more tries my technique is perfect. The birds are quick and agile and explode the instant I tell them to. I look at the sky; the sun is positioned a little above the horizon. I have an hour to work on spiders. I begin to mold the clay into the correct shape. I think back to when I watched Dei practice. He used a different hand sign for each shape. Just so he wouldn't blow up the bird he was riding on instead of the animals he used to attack. I remember the two signs for the spiders, but I can't remember which one animates and which explodes.

Well, I have a fifty-fifty chance of not blowing myself up. Which are better odds than I've had in the past. I choose a sign at random. Taking a deep breath I form the seal and shut my eyes tightly waiting for the explosion. When nothing happens I open one eye. Whew, I chose the right… a flash of light fills my vision and then everything goes black.

Third Person POV

"We did it!" Naruto shouts as he and Sasuke enter the bridge builder's house supporting each other's weight. "We both climbed all the way to the top of the tree!"

"Good job, you tow," Kakashi says. "But you didn't happen to see Tora while you were out there, did you?" In truth, he's worried about his favorite student, she's not the type to train late into the night and she said she would be back by sunset.

"No, why?" Naruto asks.

"Because she hasn't come back yet." He answers.

"That's not good," Sasuke mutters. "Tora hates the dark. Ever since we were little she's been afraid. Now more than ever, she says it reminds her of her time with 'Him'. Thought she won't tell me who 'He' is."

"Oh, no." Kakashi says. He knows all about Tora's past and how Orochimaru held her captive. The Hokage informed him of it the day he met Tora. "Okay, we're going to split up and look for Tora. When we get to the clearing we were training in we're going to search a 10-mile radius. Sasuke to the north, Naruto the west, Sakura the south and I'll take the east. Meet back at the clearing in an hour. If you find Tora, bring her here first then report to the clearing. Now move out!"

"Yes Kakashi-sensei!" They say in unison. He takes off towards the clearing and then to the east. He knows this was the direction Tora took earlier and where the explosions were coming from. His eyes widen in realization. What if the explosions she told them not to worry about was actually someone kidnapping her? Kakashi doubles his pace while searching the area for any signs of Tora's chakra.

A few miles out he comes across some splintered trees. He follows the path of destruction to a crater that is charred and smoking. Lying in the middle of the scarred earth is Tora. He quickly runs towards her and checks for a pulse. It's there, but it's faint. He pulls back to assess the damage. Nothing seems to be broken, but there are burns all over her body and the worst are on her hands.

Picking up the battered girl bridal style the silver haired jounin transports himself back to Tazuna's house. "Tsunami!" He yells frantically. Said woman comes into the kitchen to see what was wrong.

"What happened?" She asks as her eyes fall on the bloody girl in his arms.

"I don't know! I found her like this in a destroyed area of the woods." Kakashi says close to hysteria.

"Calm down Kakashi!" Tsunami says. "Get her upstairs while I grab some bandages."

Kakashi nods and takes the injured kunoichi to her temporary room. He gently lays her on the bed as Tsunami enters. "This may sound a little rude," she says, "but get out of the room."

"What?" Kakashi asks in confusion.

"I need to undress her in order to clean and bandage her wounds." She explains. "I don't think she'd want you in here while I do that."

He nods one and leaves the room. Once in the hall he bites his thumb and summons Pakkun, his most trusted ninja hound. "Sup Kakashi," the pug says in a monotone voice.

"I need you to go meet the rest of my team and tell them I found Tora." Kakashi orders. He pulls a map of the area out of his vest and marks the clearing with a red X. "This is the meeting point."

"Okay," Pakkun says and takes off. Meanwhile Kakashi begins to pace back and forth in front of Tora's room. After 20 minutes he leans against the wall and slides down it into a sitting position. He places his head in his hands and lets out a frustrated sigh. He should never have let her go train on her own! It would have saved him from sitting here being worried. He doesn't know how, but he's come to think of the girl as a younger sister he needs to protect.

A few minutes later Naruto and Sasuke come rushing up the stairs. "Where is she?" Naruto huffs, out of breath.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke asks in a worried voice.

"She's in her room and I don't know. Tsunami's still taking care of her injuries." The Copy-nin replies. "She's been in there for about 20 minutes."

"Oh," they say and lapse into silence. The two boys take seats against the wall across from Kakashi and wait. Ten minutes later the door to Tora's room creaks open and Tsunami emerges. All three guys' heads snap up to look at her. "She's fine. She just needs to rest and her wounds are healing remarkably fast." She says answering their unspoken question. They all simultaneously let out sighs of relief. "Can we go in?" Sasuke asks.

"I don't see why not. Just don't wake her." They all nod and rush into the room. Lying on the bed is a peacefully sleeping Tora covered in white bandages. Kakashi takes a seat in the chair next to her bed and pulls out his book. Naruto and Sasuke both climb onto the bed and lay down at her feet next to each other.

The two boys are out in seconds. Kakashi try's to focus on his book, but he's too worried about Tora to enjoy it. He gives up trying to read with a sigh and looks at Tora. His hand slowly moves forward to gently push the hair back from the sleeping girl's face. The jounin suppresses a yawn as he rests his arms on the bed and lays his head down. He shuts his eyes and falls asleep faster than the two boys.

Tora's POV

I yawn and stretch as I, for once, wake up on my own. I look down to find my hands and chest wrapped in thick white bandages. What happened? I remember mastering the clay birds and then moving on to the spiders, then… nothing.

A loud snore brings me out of my musings and I realize I'm no alone. Sasuke and Naruto are cuddled together at the end of the bed and Kakashi's in a chair next me with his head resting on the bed. The door creaks open and Tsunami and Sakura walk in. "Oh, you're up!" Tsunami says.

"You had us all worried!" Sakura exclaims. "These threes waited in front of your door for about a half hour while Tsunami took care of your injuries. Then, as you can see, they fell asleep in here." There was just a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"Really?" I ask in surprise.

"Yup," she says.

"We have to wake them up and kick them out so we can change your bandages," Tsunami says.

"Are Naruto and Sasuke really cuddling?" Sakura asks trying to stifle her laughter.

"You wouldn't happen to own a camera, would you?" I ask Tsunami.

"I'll go get it," she says leaving the room.

"We are about to have the greatest piece of blackmail ever," I say grinning evilly. Sakura returns my grin as Tsunami enters the room and hands the camera to Sakura. She takes about 20 pictures.

"Now to wake them up." I say and start to poke Kakashi in the head. "Kakashi… wake up." I sigh. "Looks like we're doing it the hard way. KAKASHI WAKE UP!" I scream in his ear.

He falls out of the chair and lets out a shout as he jerks awake. "Tora," he growls. "You're lucky you're hurt, because if you weren't I would attack you!"

"Was goin on?" Naruto mumbles sleepily as he cuddles closer to Sasuke. It takes him a minute to finally realize that him and Sasuke are holding each other in their arms. "Ahhhh! What are you doing?!" He screams.

"Shut up idiot, I'm trying to sleep," Sasuke mumbles glaring out of one eye. His eyes widen as he notices their position. "What the hell?" He shouts falling out of the bed.

"Not that this isn't entertaining, but could you three get out so we can rebandage Tora's wounds?" Tsunami asks while trying to contain her laughter.

"You were the one cuddling me!" Naruto shouts.

"You obviously moved my arms around you while I was sleeping!" Sasuke retorts.

"Come on you two," Kakashi sighs grabbing them by their shirts and pulling them out of the room.

"Now lets take a look at those burns." Tsunami says pulling the bandages off.

"What happened to you?" Sakura asks wincing at the site of my blistering red skin.

"I think I may have blown myself up while training with explosive clay." I say. "And you don't have to worry about bandaging them again. Now that I'm awake I can heal them with medical ninjutsu."

"You can do medical ninjutsu?" Sakura asks.

"The Akatsuki was filled with skilled fighters, but none of them knew medical jutsu so I learned in order to not be useless." I explain and focus my chakra. My hands glow a soft green and the red skin slowly starts to fade to their natural pale color. I then move my hands to my chest and then my head. "There good as new!"

"That was so cool!" Sakura says. "Could you teach me to do medical jutsu?"

"I'd love too, but I'm not the best teacher. Most of this just comes from my natural talent. Besides the best person to teach you would probably be the best medic ninja that ever lived." I say.

"Who's that?" She asks.

"Tsunade, one of the three legendary Sanin. But you'll have to find her first." I say. "But I'm sure one of the medics at the hospital can teach you until you find her."

"Thanks Tora," Sakura says as she and Tsunami leave. I'm about to get up when Kakashi comes back in.

"How you feeling?" He asks.

"Better now that I've heal myself."

"You know medical ninjutsu?" He asks in surprise.

"Yup," I say happily.

"Anyways, I know you're going to hate me for this, but I'm ordering you to stay in bed for the next few days."

"But I'm completely healed!" I exclaim. "And what about Zabuza? You can't expect Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke to be able to help fight him."

"It doesn't matter. Even though you healed yourself there's still some damage that will take a while to heal and I don't want you getting hurt again."

"But Kakashi!" I whine.

"Don't argue with me Tora."

"Whatever." This is going to be a long week.

"Please?" I ask.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Do I have to get on my knees and beg you?" I ask giving Kakashi my puppy dog eyes.

"Tora! You were seriously injured. Your jutsu only heal the basic damage. It'll take a few more days to heal completely."

"No it won't! I'm perfectly fine, all healed up!" The truth is the damage left after I heal myself is completely gone. I'm an extremely fast healer. It pains me to admit this, but some of Orochimaru's experiments were helpful. Like super fast healing.

"It's only been two days." Kakashi says. "There's no way the damage that was left healed that fast."

"But Kakashi," I whine. "I'm bored here! You and the team are out training and protecting Tazuna. Tsunami's buys with house work and all that brat Inari does is glare at me!"

"Fine you can come," he sighs in defeat. "But if we get attacked I don't want you fighting, got it?"

"I can't make any promises!" I shout and run out before he can lecture me. "Guess what?" I say to Sasuke and Sakura. "I finally get to come with you guys!"

"Are you sure you're okay to come?" Sasuke asks. "It seemed like you had some pretty nasty burns."

"I'm fine, but where's Naruto?" I ask noticing the absence of my favorite blond.

"The idiot stayed out all night training so we decided to let him rest." Sakura answers.

"That's Naruto for you," I say with a smile and we head off at a steady pace to the bridge. I walk next to Kakashi, but he won't talk to me because I didn't promise to stay out of the fighting. In my opinion he's acting like a five year old. As we get closer to the bridge I start to get an uneasy feeling in my gut.

"Something wrong?" Kakashi asks finally speaking to me.

"I have a feeling something's going to happen." I answer.

"I'll be sure to stay on my guard. Don't worry I can handle Zabuza."

"It's not him I'm worried about, it's his companion. The one who dressed as a tracker ninja. Unlike with Zabuza, his skills are completely unknown to us."

"Remember Tora, no matter what happens I don't want you fighting. Sasuke can take care of the other ninja." He says seriously.

"Kakashi, I'm fine, really. I'll stay out of the fighting if that's what you want but," I say holding my hand to cut off any protest. "If things get really bad and Sasuke can't handle it, I will step in. I won't let my comrade die."

"Fine," Kakashi sighs. "Just promise you wont do anything reckless."

"I promise," I say while crossing my fingers behind my back.

We walk the rest of the way in silence. As we approach the bridge I take not of the thick fog. I search the area for any chakra signatures and find many faint ones, most likely the workers. "He's here," I say quietly.

"Who?" Sakura asks.

"Zabuza." I say. We move forward with caution. We get about halfway down the unfinished bridge when we're surrounded by dark figures.

"Get in formation!" Kakashi shout. "Protect the bridge builder!" Kakashi take the front, Sasuke the right, Sakura back, and I'm on the left. The fog clears to reveal water clones of Zabuza.

"So we meet again." Comes Zabuza's gravely voice.

"And this time you will die." Kakashi says.

"I won't underestimate you this time Kakashi. I will kill you and there's you or your genin can do about it." He did NOT just call me weak. Forget about my promise of not fighting, this jerk is going down!

"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you. They're stronger than you think." Kakashi defends.

Zabuza starts to laugh. "Are you kidding me? Look at that one, he shaking in fear!" He exclaims.

"I'm shaking," Sasuke begins in a low voice, "With excitement!"

"Go ahead," Kakashi says and Sasuke bursts into action taking down the water clones. He ends in front of us, smirking.

"Sasuke here was top of his class at the academy." Kakashi adds.

"Only because I wasn't there," I say under my breath. "I could kick his ass in 10 seconds flat."

"No matter," Zabuza says. "Haku will take care of him easily." A masked boy steps up from next to him. Judging from what I can feel of his chakra, he's way stronger than Sasuke.

"Why don't you let me handle this one, Kakashi-sensei." Sasuke says cockily. That cockiness is going to get him killed.

"Don't let him." I mutter to Kakashi.

"Go ahead." He says nodding at Sasuke.

"What did I just say?" I ask giving him an incredulous look.

"He'll be fine."

"For your sake, you better hope you're right." I say under my breath. The fight begins as Haku charges at Sasuke with senbon needles. Channeling chakra to his feet Sasuke jumps, disappearing from sight. He reappears and engages in a quick taijutsu battle with Haku. Haku is able to swipe Sasuke's feet out from under him and swings his senbon down to finish Sasuke off.

I move faster than I ever have before and block the senbon with a kunai. "Don't. Fucking. Touch. My. Brother." I growl.

"I didn't need your help." I hear Sasuke say as he pushes me out of his way.

"Thanks Tora for saving my life," I say using my best Sasuke impression. "You're welcome Sasuke."

"Shut up and stay out of my fight!" He shouts at me.

"Love you too, bro." I say sarcastically. "If you want to fight him and die go ahead, but don't say I didn't warn you." I walk away from him and stop in front of Haku. "Go ahead and kill him, it'll teach him a lesson."

"You want me to kill your brother?" He asks in confusion.

"He pissed me off and when someone pisses me off they normally don't live to see the next day." I say and brush past him. As I do his shoulder touches mine and the world begins to spin and the air compresses around me. Images begin to pass before my eyes, as if it were real life.

A little boy playing outside creating ice by using ninjutsu. The scene changes to the same little boy cowering up against a wall. The body of a dead woman, who I can only assume is his mother, is lying in front of him while a mob of angry people shout and throw things at him. It changes again and this time the boy is older and leaning back against the side of a bridge. He looks worn out and dirty with his ripped clothes and messy black hair. He looks ready to die. Zabuza appears in front of him offering him a hand and the boy takes it with a small smile.

The scene blurs and I'm back in reality in an instant. My eyes lock with Kakashi's as black spots dance in my vision. My body begins to sway and the last thing I see is Kakashi dashing forward to catch me before I'm enveloped by darkness.

Woohoo! Chapter 6! See it is longer than the last chapter. Expect another update sometime this weekend, we've had a few days off of school because of a virus in our school district so I have a lot of free time. Hope you like the new chapter and guess what? Sasuke stopped acting like a human being in this chapter! And also expect Tora to meet Gaara in the next chapter! It will be AWESOME! Enjoy.

~C.S.


	7. Chapter 7

I yawn and stretch my arms over my head as my eyes flicker open. The rough bark of a tree presses into my back as I look around. The first thing I see is Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke snuggled into their sleeping bags next a fire. I wonder where Kakashi is. Probably keeping watch. My eyes search the trees above me until they rest on the familiar form of my sensei reading his perverted book.

Standing up I send chakra to my feet and climb up the tree. "Hey Kakashi!" I say, startling the silver haired man.

"Tora! You're awake!" He says. "What happened to you out there? You just passed out!"

"Did the Hokage tell you about my visions?" I ask.

"Yes, but it was hard to understand. All I got was that because of Orochimaru you have visions of people's pasts."

"Well," I say with a sigh. "Whenever I touch someone I go into a vision, they only last for the blink of an eye. I can normally control it, but people with extremely sad pasts are a challenge. When I'm in battle I can keep out visions with some effort, but in Haku's case I was unfocused because I was pissed at Sasuke."

"Do you always black out after a vision?" He asks.

"No. I used to, but not anymore. The only reason I passed out this time was because I wasn't expecting a vision."

"So, I don't have to worry about you blacking out in the middle of a fight?"  
"Nope," I say popping the "p".

"Good," he sighs. Now that I take a closer look, he looks exhausted.

"Why don't you get some sleep and I'll take over watch?" I suggest.

"No, I'm okay. You go back to bed." He says.

"Kakashi, I just woke up. There's no way I'll be able to go back to sleep." I say walking over to him. "Now go get some rest." I give him a shove and take the space he was previously occupying.

"If you insist," He mutters. "Oh and before I go, you should know that Sasuke got his Sharingan while fighting Haku."

"Good for him." Shit, now that he has it he's a potential target for Orochimaru. I'm going to have to watch him from now on. I watch Kakashi jump off the branch and get into his sleeping bag. Stupid Kakashi thinks he's invincible. I sigh and settle back against the tree and wait for the sun to rise.

"Finally home," I sigh as we pass through the gate.

"Hey Tora, come here." Naruto says and I drop back to talk to him.

"What's up?" I ask.

"Well," he says with a mischievous glint in his eye. "I was talking with Sasuke and Sakura and they don't think you can steal Kakashi-sensei's book from him."

"Oh really?" I ask raising an eyebrow.

"I tried to tell them that you could, but they didn't believe me."

"Then why don't we make a bet out of it? Sasuke! Sakura! Come here!" I yell and they both fall in step with Naruto and I. "So I hear you don't think I can steal Kakashi's book."

"So?" Sakura asks.

"So, I wanna make a bet. If I steal Kakashi's book you each owe Naruto and I 40 yen each." I say with a smirk.

"What! No way!" Sakura says.

"Sure, whatever. It's not like you're gonna get it anyway." Sasuke says. Once Sasuke agrees Sakura immediately changes her mind and says she's in. I hold out my hand to shake. Sasuke takes it and squeezes hard. A message that if I get the book, he'll kill me for making him lose 80 yen. Sakura shakes it lightly and just like that we have a deal.

"I have to go file a report for our mission," Kakashi says as he turns to face us.

"Okay," we all chorus. He nods once and begins to walk away.

"Wait! Kakashi, I'll come with you. I need to tell you something." I say and with a wink to my teammates I run after him. "So…"

"Forget it."

"Forget what?" I ask innocently.

"That stupid bet. There's no way you're going to get my book." Kakashi says and glances at me.

"Damn, you foiled my plan to jump you and steal it," I say with mock disappointment. "But seriously, I did need to tell you something."

"What?" He asks.

"Thank you for finding me after I blew myself up." I say quickly and before I can lose my nerve I give him a quick hug. He face shows complete shock. A slow smile begins to form under his masks.

"I'm your sensei," he says. "Of course I came to find you. Besides you're the only one on this team I can count on. The team would be unbearable without you."

"Thanks Kakashi. Well, I should probably go now and make sure Sakura hasn't killed Naruto." He just chuckles as I turn and race away. Once I'm far enough away I pull out his book with a triumphant smile. I can't believe he didn't notice me grab it when I hugged him! Time to find Naruto.

I search the area for his chakra and find it not too far away. I take off at a sprint and maneuver my way through the maze of backstreets. I fly around a corner and see what looks like a wall. My arms instantly come up and chakra emits from my palms. I break through the barrier only to run into a body. My sight blurs as I'm sucked into another vision.

_ A little boy with blood red hair sits on a swing with a teddy bear. Near by a group of children are playing and their ball gets stuck on a roof. A pile of sand floats up and brings the ball down to the little boy. He offers the ball to the children, but they all run away screaming. He flings his arm out as if to tell them to wait and the sand lashes out grabbing a girl's ankle. He stares in horror at the sand before dropping his arm and releasing the girl who runs away._

_ The scene changes to the boy trying to cut himself with a knife, but the sand blocks it from touching his skin. The door of the room flies open and a man with sandy colored hair rushes in. He takes the knife from the boy and his lips start to move, but like with most of my visions I can't hear what he's saying. He points to the boy's chest right where his heart would be and smiles and the boy returns it._

_ The scene changes again and the boy is sitting on a roof top staring at the sitting which I'm guessing is the Hidden Sand Village. A ninja appears behind him throwing kunai at him and his sand flies up to block them. The boy turns around with a panicked look in his eyes as he sends his sand at the ninja enveloping him in it. The boy closes his hand into a fist and the sand crushes the body of the ninja. The boy slowly makes his way over and with a shaking hand pulls the veil off of the ninjas face to reveal the man from before. He says something to the boy and tears stream from his sea foam green eyes and down his porcelain colored face._

_ The man opens his vest to reveal a bunch of paper bombs and the boy's sand rushes to protect him as a flash of white light fills my vision. It subsides to show the boy unharmed as anger takes over his face. The sand begins to swirl around him at a fast pace and it attacks his forehead. The sand calms and falls to the ground, lifeless. The boy's body rises and falls at a rapid pace and when he looks up I can see the kanji for love cut into the left side of his forehead and there's a murderous look in his eyes._

I open my eyes as I return to the present and blink rapidly to clear the tears that had begun to form. My breath hitches in my throat as I stare into a pair of shocked sea foam green eyes. I feel as if I'm being sucked right into them and stare at them a little longer before I realize I'm lying on top of the owner. Quickly roll off the person and stand up while trying to hold back a blush.

"I'm so sorry!" I say and look down at the red head from my vision. "I was in a rush and wasn't watching where I was going. Are you okay?"

The boy just stares at me silently with a slightly murderous look in his eyes. "I'll take that as a yes," I say awkwardly.

"Tora! Are you okay?" I hear Naruto yell. I completely forget about the red head as I turn to smile at Naruto.

"Better than okay. Look what I got," I say holding up Kakashi's book with a smirk and Naruto gives me a huge smile.

"How did you?" Sakura asks in shock.

"Doesn't matter," I say walking towards them. "Pay up."

Sakura groans as she pulls out the money and hands it to Naruto and I. "Sasuke," I say and turn to him.

"Hn, no way." He says.

"Fine, I guess we'll do it the hard way." I'm behind him in a flash and he turns around with his fist flying to punch me. I catch it easily and turn. Tugging on his arm I flip him over my shoulder. He lands on the ground with a thud and I place my foot on his chest to prevent him from getting up. "Gonna pay now?"

"No." I press down hard with my foot, making it hard for him to breath.

"How about now?"

"No…way," comes his strangled reply.

"Naruto."  
"Yeah?" He asks.

"He keeps his money in his weapons pouch. Grab it for me."

"Yes ma'am," he says reaching down into the pouch. He pulls out a wad of cash and tosses it to me. I pull out the money he owes and hand it to Naruto to put it back.

"Can I get up now?" Sasuke asks annoyed.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I take my foot off his chest and grab his arm to help him up.

"Um, guys? You're making a bad impression," Sakura says nervously.

"What do you mean?" I ask. She points down the path to the red head and two other people that I didn't notice before.

"I mean Naruto and Sasuke get in a fight with the guy with the face paint and you smack into the guy with red hair and just forget about then to fight with your own teammates. Where are your manners?" She lectures.

I roll my eyes and turn to the strangers. Sand Shinobi, ugh. And the guy with make up looks like a puppet master and his hat reminds me of cat ears. The girl has her sand colored hair in four spikey ponytails on the back of her head and it reminds me of a poodle. But what really pisses me off about them is they give off this 'I'm better than you' vibe.

"I'm sorry for anything my teammates have done," Sakura says. "They didn't have anyone to teach them manners as kids."

"In my defense, I did grow up with parents who neglected me and then lived with S-ranked criminals before being held captive by a psychotic bastard. I think I have the right to be rude and I did say I was sorry for running into the guy." I say.

"Just don't let it happen again punks," says face paint. "We don't have time to deal with weaklings like you."

"He's dead," I growl. No one calls me weak! I go to run at him, but am held back by all three of my teammates. "Let me go!"  
"He's not worth it," Sasuke says. "The only reason he said that was because he knows we're stronger and he can only use words to hurt us."

"That actually makes sense," I say calming down.

"What did you just says punk!" Face paint says about to advance on us.

"Enough Kankuro, we're leaving." The red head's deep voice interrupts and shiver goes down my spine. The three sand shinobi start walking away.

"Wait!" Sasuke yells. "What's your name?"

"Who me?" Says the girl with a blush. Oh Kami, not another Sasuke fan-girl.

"No, the one with the gourd on his back." My brother says.

"I am Gaara of the Sand," he says. "I'm also curious what your name is."

"Sasuke Uchiha." My twin says with a smirk and I roll my eyes at him.

"And your name," Gaara says pointing at me.

"Well don't I feel honored," I say sarcastically. "My name's…"

"TORA UCHIHA! I want my book back!" My eyes widen as Kakashi's voice comes from somewhere behind us. Shit, he sounds close.

"Tora Uchiha nice to meet you. Now I gotta go before my sensei kills me!" I say quickly and take off past the sand ninja. "Oh and if Kakashi asks, you NEVER saw me, got it?" I shout over my shoulder to my team.

My chest is heaving by the time I make it back to my apartment. Damn Kakashi chased me through the entire village. I unlock my door and step inside. I toss his book on the bed and head to the shower. The warm water feels good as it washes the dirt from my body. I get out and dry off before running a brush through my hair and pulling it into a ponytail. I pull on a pair of long black pants and a black tank top with red clouds on it, like the Akatsuki cloak.

As I walk to the kitchen to get some food the cold steep of a kunai is pressed against my throat. "I want my book back, Tora." A menacing voice whispers I my ear.

"How do you know I have it? I could have easily given it to Naruto or Sasuke to hide," I say with a smirk. "Besides Kakashi, you really shouldn't read such perverted books. And I already got my money, so go ahead and take it back." I feel the kunai lower from my throat and Kakashi steps around to face me.

"So you looked in my book?" He smirks.

"No, I stole one from another Akatsuki member a few years ago. Never before have I wished to unsee something so badly," I shiver.

"Where is it?" He asks.

"On the bed." I answer.

"Are you hungry?" He asks as he walks over to my bed and picks up his book.

"Starving." I say dramatically. "Why?"

"A friend of mine wants me to meet him and his team at the barbeque restaurant and he wants me to bring my team. I figured I'd just take you, because the rest of our team is…"

"Stupid?"

"I was going to say immature, but stupid works too."

"Before I say yes, does this of yours wear green spandex and have a mini-me?" If it's that crazy guy then there's no way I'm going!

"Don't worry it's not Gai." He says.

"Okay! Then I would love to got out to eat with you, your friend and his team!" I say brightly and grab my key. "Can we teleport there? I'm feeling too lazy to walk."

"I guess," Kakashi sighs. He makes a hand sign and disappear and reappear in front of the restaurant Sasuke and I were at the day of the bell test. We walk in and a man with a cigarette waves at Kakashi.

"I take it that's your friend?" I mutter.

"Yup. Hey Asuma! Where's your team?"

"They're on their way, I came ahead so that I could order." The man, Asuma, says. "This must be one of your students."

"I'm Tora Uchiha, nice to meet you." I say with a smile as Kakashi and I sit down across from him.

"So you're the infamous Tora Uchiha. Kakashi here talks about you often. He says you're strong enough to be a jounin." Asuma says. "So where's the rest of your team, Kakashi?"

"My brother's too cool to come, Naruto's an idiot and can't eat anything but ramen, and Sakura's probably trailing my brother around," I say to cover up the fact that Kakashi didn't ask them to come.

"Sounds like you've got an interesting team," Asuma says.

"You don't know the half of it." Kakashi sighs and I giggle.

"Hey Asuma-sensei!" A cheery voice says from behind us. "Sorry we're late. Shikamaru decided to walk extremely slow." I turn around to see a blond girl with her hair in similar style to mine. Behind her is a lazy looking kid with pineapple hair and a chubby guy that looks like he's about to drool from the smell of food.

"It's okay." Asuma says. "Come and sit down." They walk over and the blond stops short when she sees me.

"You!" She exclaims.

I cock my head to the side, a confused expression on my face. "Do I know you?"

"No," she says with a glare. "But if you continue to get chummy with MY Sasuke, I will make your life a living hell!"

I burst out laughing. She thinks I like Sasuke! How stupid can she be? It's obvious that we're siblings, I mean we look exactly alike! I'm laughing so hard that my stomach hurts.

"What's so funny?" She demands.

"Oh a number of things," I say between giggles. "That fact that my life is already a living hell, the way you think you have a chance with Sasuke, that you think I like Sasuke and that Sasuke's my twin brother!" By now everyone at the table is laughing except for the girl who's face is extremely red. I can't decide if it's from anger or embarrassment.

"Team this is my friend Kakashi Hatake and one of his students Tora Uchiha. Why don't you guy introduce yourselves." Asuma says.

"I'm Chouji Akamichi," says the chubby kid.

"I'm Shikamaru Nara, man this is such a drag," says pineapple head. Even his voice sounds lazy.

"Ino Yamanaka," the blond says in an annoyed tone.

Shikamaru ends up sitting next to Kakashi and I while Ino and Chouji sit on the other side with their sensei. "So, I didn't know Sasuke had a sister," Ino says.

"Most people don't. Unlike my brothers I wasn't the 'Pride of the Uchiha Clan' and the barely let me out of the compound. After the massacre my older brother, Itachi, took me with him when he left. I only recently returned to the village." I say.

"Oh," she says. "I'm sorry I went off on you earlier."

"No problem, you didn't know. It wouldn't be the first time. I though Sakura was going to tear me to shreds the first time we met because Sasuke gave me a hug." I laugh. The waiter comes by and places platters of uncooked meat in front of us. My mouth starts to water as I place some on the grill. Once it's done I take a piece and place it in my mouth. I'm instantly transported to heaven as I swallow piece after piece of meat. When I finish I look up to see everyone staring at me. "What?"

"I think she at more than Chouji." Ino says in disbelief.

"Where does she put it all?" Asuma asks.

"I don't know," Kakashi answers.

"How did you eat all that?" Shikamaru asks me.

"I like meat," I shrug. Ino's eyes widen as she looks behind me.

"That's a scary looking bunch of people." She says and I turn around to see Gaara and his teammates enter. As they walk past our table the cat guy notices me and smirks. One they get to their table he whispers something in the girl's ear. She nods and I feel my body start to move of it's own accord. That damn puppet master! He attached chakra strings to me! I get up and star walking towards them. "Um, Tora? What are you doing?" Ino calls from behind me.

"I'm not really sure," I yell back. "I'm not exactly in control of my body right now. But don't worry I can handle it. This isn't the first time this has happened."

I reach their table and glare at the cat guy. "You know it's not nice to control other people's bodies." I say.

"Really?" He asks sarcastically.

"Oh Kami. Not a Sasori junior," I mutter under my breath. Sasori may seem emotionless, but the guy seriously knows how to use sarcasm and his favorite pass time was controlling me with chakra strings.

"What was that, sweetheart?" He asks flirtatiously.

"I said go to hell," I reply sweetly. "Did you want something?"

"Playing hard to get I see." He says. "I just wanted to know if you would go on a date with me, cutie."

"I'd rather be burned alive." I retort.

"Hn, doesn't matter. I'm not letting you go until you say yes."

"Then we're gonna be here for a while."

"Kankuro," Gaara says emotionlessly. "Let her go." His empty eyes meet mine and I see a flicker of emotion in them, but it disappears quickly.

"Fine," Kankuro says and my body becomes mine to control again. "Will we be seeing you seeing you at the Chunin Exams?"

"Chunin Exams?" I blink. "Hey Kakashi! Am I going to the Chunin Exams?" I yell to him.

"Oh, yeah! I for got to tell you that I signed the team up." He calls back.

"Yes, I will be at the Chunin Exams." I say to Kankuro. "So you better watch your back, because first chance I get I'm kicking your ass."

"Feisty, I like it. I'll see you there then," he says with a wink. I give him the finger and walk back to our table.

"I'm gonna head home." I say to Kakashi. "See ya later." I turn and walk towards the door.

"Don't forget about the exams!" He yells.

"I'd be a bit more worried about Naruto!" I shout back and begin the long walk home.

Two chapters in two days! I'm so happy! And Tora got to meet Gaara! The sad part is that I had their meeting planned out since I started this whole thing. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

~C.S.


	8. Chapter 8

"Tora! Hurry up or we're gonna be late!" Naruto yells as he pounds on my door.

"I'm coming! Don't get your panties in a bunch!" I shout back and tie my headband around my waist. My stupid alarm clock didn't go off this morning! I open the door and immediately get hit in the face as Naruto attempts to knock again. "Hey!"

"Sorry," he says sheepishly. "Come on let's go!" He turns around for me to get on his back and I hop on. We race through the streets of Konoha knocking people over as we go until we reach the academy where the test will take place.

"There you guys are!" Sakura says exasperated. "We thought you were going to be late."

"It was all Tora's fault!" Naruto exclaims as I hop off his back.

"It's not my fault my alarm was stupid and refused to go off." I say and shrug my shoulders. "But I need to tell you guys something. No matter what happens when we walk in there don't draw attention to us."

"Why not?" Sakura asks.

"If they come near us or notice us they'll find out how inexperienced you three are and target us. Trust me, all the people in there have been in the field a lot longer than you guys. If we appear as easy targets they'll all come after us." I explain.

"I can take on all of those amateurs!" Naruto shouts. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday!"

"While I don't doubt that Naruto, right now you're not strong enough. Someday you will be, but not any time soon. It's just something you have to accept and train like crazy until you do become strong enough." I say. "Anyways, what room are we going to again?"

"3B," Sakura answers.

"Cool, someone else should lead the way though. I don't exactly know my way around this place."

"Just follow me," Sasuke says and takes the lead. When we get to the second floor there's a group of people standing around a door that says 3B, but I easily see through the genjutsu. It's only room 2B. Two "kids" are standing in front of the door and not letting anyone through. One has spikey hair with a bandage across his nose and the other has brown bangs covering one eye while the rest of his hair is in a shinobi bandanna. My team starts to walk towards the crowd and I follow not wanting to be left behind. They're idiots for falling for it, but I have to stick with them.

As we approach the front of the crowd a boy in green spandex rushes at the two guys aiming a kick. I recognize him as one of the students of the crazy, green spandex wearing rival of Kakashi. I appear in front of him and grab his leg before it can make contact. "Idiot, do you want to get kicked out of the exams?" I ask. "Besides it's not worth it, these guys are just screwing with you."

"What do you mean?" A boy with long brown hair that I recognize as the boy's teammate says.

"Sakura can explain it. I'm sure she caught it, being the brightest mind in her class." Sasuke says.

"I did? I mean, of course I did! This is only the second floor, they placed a genjutsu on the sign." She explains.

"YOU ARE SO PRETTY!" Green spandex yells. "My name is Rock Lee! Will you be my girlfriend? I vow to protect you with my life!"

"Um…" Sakura says with her eye twitching. "I'm sorry, but my answer is no."

"Oh," he says deflating.

"Who are you?" The last member of their team, a girl with brown hair in two buns, asks.

"Sasuke Uchiha," my twin says with an infuriating smirk.

"The great Sasuke Uchiha!" Lee says. "It would be my honor to meet you in combat."

"Sorry, but we have to go if we don't want to be late," I say drawing his attention to me as his jaw drops.

"You are the one that insulted Gai-sensei!" He exclaims.

"Oh, yeah. She is." The girl says.

"What did you do to their sensei?" Naruto asks me.

"My um… Akatsuki training kicked in and I kind of, uh, snapped at him when he asked my name." I mumble while blushing.

"Who are you?" The brunette boy asks.

"Name's Tora Uchiha, twin sister of the arrogant idiot your teammate wants to fight." I say.

"Hey!" Sasuke shouts. "I am not an arrogant idiot!"

"Actually you are. So, what's your name?" I ask the boy.

"Neji Hyuga." He says arrogantly. Great it must come with being part of a powerful clan.

"I would say nice to meet you, but it seems you're going to be my competition. And we have to go." I say turning and stalking off.

"You're going the wrong way!" Sakura shouts.

"And whose fault is that?" I ask turning to look at her. "Not mine, because I don't know my way around this place."

"Come on, it's this way." Sasuke says pushing past the other team and we all follow after him. We get to a stairwell by a training area when a shout stops us.

"Wait!" Lee yells running to catch up to us. "I was serious about what I said. I want to fight Sasuke."

"Fine," Sasuke sighs.

"Do you want to be late?" I ask him.

"This should only take a minute." And there's that arrogance again. I hope he gets his ass kicked.

"Whatever. Do what you want. I'll find the room by myself." I scowl and walk off. After a few minutes of wandering I finally find the room when I see Kakashi.

"Where's the rest of the team?" He asks.

"Sasuke got into a stupid fight with one of the students of your spandex wearing friend and wouldn't listen to me when I told him not to. But he's an arrogant idiot and is probably going to get his ass handed to him." I grumble.

"Why is the rest of our team so stupid?" Kakashi sighs.

"Because Kami hates us." I say miserably.

"You know I can't let you in until they come."

"Yeah. If those idiots ruin this for me I may end up killing one of them." I growl and we lapse into silence to wait for our team.

"I want you to meet me at the training ground after the first test." Kakashi says suddenly. "I want to teach you something for the second exam. You have lightning chakra right?"

"Yeah, lightning and wind," I answer.

"Good."  
"Well, well, well. Look who's here." A familiar voice says behind me. I turn around and groan when I see Kankuro and his team.

"Why Kami?" I ask looking up. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Don't be that way," Kankuro says with a wink as he swaggers over towards me. He's about to grab my chin when he's pulled away by Kakashi and pinned against the wall. His right arm twisted painfully behind his back.

"I suggest that you don't flirt with my student," Kakashi says menacingly. "And go inside to wait for the first test to start."

Kankuro's face goes white and all he can do is nod and give a weak, "Yes sir." Kakashi let's go of him and he walks past me into the room, Gaara and the girl close behind. Gaara's face is blank the entire time while the girl glares at us.

"Thanks Kakashi," I say.

"No problem," he smiles. "That guy seemed like a creep."

"A creep hell bent on stalking me," I mutter.

"Don't worry. Chances are you'll never see him again after the exams." Kakashi reassures me.

"I hope so." I murmur as our team rounds the corner. "Can I go in while you talk to them?"

"Yeah, this should only take a minute." He answers. I turn around and sneak into the room so no one in there can single me out. I stand next to the door and wait while analyzing the other teams.

"Hey Tora!" I hear from my right.

"Huh? Oh, hey Ino," I greet the blond.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Shikamaru asks in his lazy voice.

"Getting a pep talk from Kakashi."

"So any minute now Naruto's gonna burst through the door and yell something stupid." Chouji says munching on a bag of chips.

"Most likely," I say. "Even though I told him not to draw attention to us."

"That sounds exactly like something Naruto would do," Ino laughs.

"Shut up," I mutter. "You're not the one who has to deal with the after effects of it."

"Yeah, but by drawing attention to you, he'll be drawing attention to us because we're with you." Shikamaru says.

"Good-"

"Alright! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna beat all you amateurs! BELIEVE IT!"

I turn and glare at the stupid blond. "What did I tell you about drawing attention to us?" I growl.

"Whatever. There's no way these guys could ever beat me!" He says and everyone in the room glares at us as their hands move to their weapons.

"He's just kidding," Ino says nervously. "Pay no attention to us." The ninja glare for a moment longer before turning away.

"That was a close one," Sakura sighs before rounding on Naruto. "You idiot! Do you want to get us killed!" She goes to hit him, but I grab her arm and stop her.

"Don't. Even. Think. About. Hitting. Naruto. Ever. Again." I growl.

"Sorry," she squeaks and scrambles away from me.

"Sasuke!" Ino squeals as she runs to hang on his side.

"Get away from him! He's mine!" Sakura shouts.

"Yeah right, as if he'd ever go for you billboard brow!" Hm, billboard brow, that's a pretty good insult. Go Ino!

"What did you say Ino-pig!" And Sakura with her weak comeback.

"You heard me!"

I can literally see the sparks flying between them. "Hey Ino, can I talk to you?" I ask to distract them.

"What? Oh, yeah sure Tora," She says and I lead her to the other side of the room.

"Look," I say. "I'm gonna tell you something because you're a pretty cool person and I don't want you to chase a lost cause. Don't chase after my brother."

"You're just saying this so Sakura can have him," She says crossing her arms.

"Sakura," I begin. "Is whiney and useless, I wouldn't encourage anyone to date her. I'm telling you to give up on Sasuke because all he cares about is getting revenge on our older brother for killing our clan. He doesn't want a girlfriend and trust me, underneath his looks there's nothing worth going after."

"Really?" She asks.

"Yup. Move on and find someone who's going to actually like you back and make you happy."

"You're right," she sighs in defeat. "I always knew that he would never want a girlfriend and never say yes to a date. I honestly don't know why I even went after him other than his looks."

"Come on let's get back to the group," I say. She nods and we make our way back. When we get there there's three more people.

"There you guys are." Shikamaru says.

"We were only gone a few minutes," Ino starts.

"You act as if we were gone for hours." I finish. "Who are they?" I gesture to the three new kids.

"That's right! You haven't met the other's yet." Sakura says. "We all graduated from the academy together."

"How do you already know Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji?" Naruto asks.

"Kakashi and I went to the barbeque pit with them and their sensei last night." I shrug.

"Hey Naruto!" A guy with messy brown hair and red triangles tattooed on his face says. "Wanna introduce us to your cute new friend?"

Naruto opens his mouth to respond when the guy is jerked back by my brother. "Stay away from her." He growls.

"Why? Is she your girlfriend or something?" The guy asks annoyed.

"Sister actually," I say smacking my brother on the back of the head. "My name's Tora, and you are?"

"Kiba," he smiles. "And these are my teammates Hinata and Shino." Shino is wearing a jacket that covers his face and sunglasses to hide his eyes. Hinata has short blue-violet hair and lilac colored eyes, like Neji. They must be related somehow. She's hiding her face with her face with her hair and keeps glancing at Naruto while blushing. Someone's got a crush on my unofficial brother!

"And who's this little guy?" I ask motioning to the adorable white dog on top of Kiba's head.

"This is Akamaru, my ninja hound." He answers and Akamaru barks.

"It's nice to meet all of you," I say with a closed eye smile. Oh Kami, Kakashi's rubbing off on me! I don't want to turn into another Lee!

"I never knew Sasuke had a sister," Kiba says.

"I left the village after our clan was massacred." I explain. "And before that my parents rarely let me leave the Uchiha Compound."

"Why not?" He asks.

"My family was stupid and prideful," I sigh. "Being the daughter of the head of the family was just not done because no Uchiha woman has had our Kekkai Genkai for a long time. So it was immediately thought that I would be a disgrace."

"That sucks," Kiba says. "If any woman in my clan was thought of like that she'd probably tear all the men to pieces." He shudders.

"You do realize you're making quite a scene." A familiar voice says behind me. Please Kami, let me be wrong just this once and please let it not be Kabuto. Let it be anyone but Kabuto! I turn around slowly and glare when I see the silver haired, glasses wearing, bastard.

"Yeah? And who exactly are you?" Naruto asks.

"My name's Kabuto," he says smirking at me. Looks like Orochimaru now knows where I am. I grit my teeth and fist my hands at my side. I need to get out of here. The longer I stay the greater the chance of me killing him and getting kicked out of the exams. While Kabuto shows off his stupid info cards to everyone, I sneak off into the crowd.

I make my way to the other side of the room and lean against the wall. I completely forgot that for the past few years he's entered the Chunin exams to collect data. I really need to distract myself before I punch a hole in the wall. I glance across the room and notice the sand ninja's watching me. I look away and watch them out of the corner of my eye. What the hell could they want? I'm still watching them, especially Gaara, when I feel something brush up against my leg.

"Um, what are you doing?" I ask a girl about my age with bright orangish-red hair. She was lying on the ground with a pair of binoculars pointed in the direction I just came from.

"Target spotted," she says in a low voice.

"Okay…" I say awkwardly as I stare down at her.

"Sorry about my teammate," a girl with light brown hair in a ponytail says. "She's a bit of a stalker."

"A bit?" I ask quizzically.

"Okay, a lot." She laughs. "The name's Suzume Haruno and this is Luna Sakura, one of my teammates."

"Tora," I say holding out my hand and she shakes it. "Are you related to Sakura?"

"Yeah, she's my cousin." She says. "But I don't exactly like her. I always find myself wanting to hurt her when she talks about Sasuke."

"I can understand that. She's one of my teammates." I say.

"I feel so sorry for you. Hold on a second while I get her attention," she says motioning to Luna. Suzume gets on her knees and puts her lips by the girl's ear. "Luna, Kiba's coming this way!"

"What Kiba!" She shouts as she stands up quickly hiding the binoculars behind her back. "I wasn't spying on you!"

"You are so gullible!" Suzume laughs.

"Whatcha do that for!" Luna whines.

"You were creeping Tora out."

"Who?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Me," I say stepping forward. "So you were stalking Kiba?"

"No," She says with a nervous laugh. "I was stalking, um, Sasuke… yeah Sasuke."

"So you were stalking my brother?" I tease.

"Did I say Sasuke? I meant… um… damn it. You're right, I was stalking Kiba." She says defeated. "Wait, Sasuke's your brother?"

"Yup. The name's Tora Uchiha." I bow. "Twin sister of the 'great' Sasuke Uchiha," I say sarcastically.

"You're a twin too!" She says excitedly. "Actually, where is my twin?"

"Behind you," a creepy voice says and Luna jumps spinning around.

"Hikari! What did I tell you about sneaking up on me!" Luna scolds a girl who looks exactly like her. The only difference is that Hikari wears glasses and is about 3 inches shorter than her sister. "And please don't use your creepy voice."

"But it's so fun," Hikari says in a normal voice. "You're just so easy to scare."

"Yeah, but one of these days you're going to sneak up on me and I'm going to kill you!"

"She's got a point," Suzume says. "If you really want to get on her nerves and not die just make stalker faces at her like I do!"

"And what do your stalker faces look like?" I ask her.

"I'll show you my favorite." She puts her chin down and looks up at me with blue-gray eyes while licking her lips in a seductive way.

"Okay, that's extremely creepy," I shudder.

"It's my specialty."

"Who's this?" Hikari asks.

"Sasuke's sister," Luna answers.

"What? I didn't know that duckbutt had a sister!"

"Not many people do," I smile. "I'm Tora."

She slowly makes her way over to me and trails three fingers down my upper arm. "Oh Kami, not again." Suzume sighs.

"What are you doing?" I ask her slightly scared of what her answer will be.

"I am a sloth. I'm claiming you as my own."

"Don't worry. She does this all the time. You get used to it eventually." Luna says.

"So, why aren't you with the rest of your team?" Suzume asks.

"Oh, um. You see the stupid looking guy with the silver hair in a ponytail and glasses?" I ask pointing at the group.

"Yeah," she says.

"I can't stand him to the point that I want to kill him. I'm all the way over here so that I don't do something stupid and get my team kicked out." I explain.

"Makes sense." Hikari says. "But why do you hate him so much?"

"Don't tell anyone this, especially my team because I don't want them to worry, but he works for the man that tormented and experimented on me for the last few years of my life." I whisper angrily. "Bastard deserves to die!"

"What kinds of experiments?" Luna asks.

"The kind that you try your best to forget, but leave behind scars that can only be hidden by clothing."

"That's terrible!" Suzume gasps. "I'm angry on your behalf! If I ever get the chance I'm going to kick his ass!"

"Me too!" Hikari chimes.

"Kick his ass? Hell, I'll kill him!" Luna snorts.

"Thanks." I smile feeling happy that these girls I just met are willing to fight for me. I haven't felt like this since I was part of the Akatsuki. I mean I love my team and all, but I don't feel like I can depend on them to be there for me all the time.

Just then the room goes silent, as someone starts hacking and coughing. I look to see Kabuto on his knees with his glasses shattered and blood dripping from his mouth. I can't help but start laughing hysterically and all eyes turn to me, but I can't stop. My eyes catch Gaara's and I can see that his are widened slightly in shock of my reaction. Actually everyone has looks of shock on their faces, except for my new friends who are laughing right along with me.

Eventually I sober up enough to catch my breath. "What?" I ask everyone in the room. "Never seen somebody laugh at the expense of someone they don't like before?"

"I think we're going to be good friends." Luna says with a sadistic smile.

"Oh yes, we are." Hikari says with her own smile.

"The very best of friends," Suzume says with her stalker face. We all burst out laughing again and I swear everyone in that room had looks of fear on their faces, with the exception of the emotionless people. Namely Sasuke, Gaara, and Shino.

A puff of smoke at the front of the room draws everyone's attention from us. "I am Ebiki Morono," A man with a scarred face and dark trench coat booms. "I am the proctor for your first exam. But first, let me make something clear. There will be no fighting during my exam. If you fight you and your team will be disqualified. Your first exam will be a written test." Uh oh.

This is stupid. How the hell is a written test supposed to help us? The only good thing is I'm sitting next to Luna. The sad part, Gaara's on my other side. How am I supposed to focus with him next to me? Every time I see him I don't know whether I should melt or cry! Damn you hormones!

"You may begin," Ebiki says. Shit, I just completely missed what he said. I look down at the paper in front of me and read the first question. _If a ninja is standing 30ft. from a tree with the wind going against him at 8mph, how much for will he need to use to throw a kunai so that it buries itself 3in into the tree?_

How the fuck am I supposed to know? I look over the rest of the test and see that all of the questions are similar. Well, time to do what I do best and cheat. I activate my Sharingan and glance at Sakura who has a triumphant smirk on her face as she starts to scribble furiously on her paper. Using my Sharingan I copy her movements until I have every question answered. That was easy.

Setting my pencil down I deactivate my Sharingan and lean back in my seat. Propping my feet up on the table I look around. Next to me Gaara's doing some weird trick with his sand and Luna's using cherry blossom petals to swap her unfinished test with that of the person next to her. Sasuke's using his Sharingan in the same way as me, Suzume has a sparrow on her shoulder that seems to be telling her the answers that it gathered from other tests, and Naruto is… freaking out. Poor guy, I wish I could help him. Closing my eyes I decide to take a nap.

A loud shout and the shattering of glass jerks me out of my dreamless sleep. "Anko Mitarashi has arrived!" A lady with spikey purple hair shouts at the front of the room.

"You're early," Ebiki says with a sweat drop. "Again."

"I am?" She asks with an embarrassed laugh. "Sorry. We got a lot of people who made it through your test. Are you getting soft Ebiki?"

"No," he says defensively. "More people would have caved if it weren't for an inspirational speech from one of them!"

"Oh well. It doesn't matter," She shrugs. "More than half of them won't make it past my exam. Alright maggots! Meet me tomorrow morning bright and early! Your sensei's will give you the location!" And with that she jumps out the previously smashed window.

"What did I miss?" I mumble in confusion as everyone starts leaving.

"Come on Tora!" Naruto says excitedly as he bounds over to me with Sasuke and Sakura behind him. "We're going to Ichiraku to celebrate!"

"Sorry guys, I can't. I have to go meet Kakashi." I say.

"Why do you have to meet Kakashi?" Sasuke asks.

"I don't know," I shrug. "He just told me to find him after the test. But after we make it through the next exam I'll treat all of you to Ichiraku."

"Awesome!" Naruto shouts.

"Okay, well I gotta go," I say standing up and jumping out the broken window. I jump from roof to roof until I make it to the training field and see Kakashi sitting under a tree reading. "Hey," I say getting his attention.

"Did you guys pass?" He asks.

"Yup."

"Good," he sighs. "I was worried that Naruto would do something to cause you to fail."

I just shrug and say, "So what did you want to teach me?"

"A new jutsu that'll help you in the next exam," he says getting up.

"And what would this jutsu be?" I question.

"This." He holds his right arm out and grasps it with his left hand. Lightning starts to spark around his arm as a ball of compacted lightning gathers in his hand. The air is filled with the sound of chirping birds. "Chidori!" He shouts as he runs at a rather large boulder. The rock is obliterated as soon as his hand strikes it.

"That was awesome!" I exclaim.

"Thanks," Kakashi says, "Now, I want you to activate your Sharingan and watch as I do it again. Then using what you saw I ant you to perform the jutsu."

"Yes sir," I say with a mock salute and activate my Sharingan. I watch carefully as he does the jutsu again.

"You ready to try?" He asks slightly out of breath.

"Mhm." I hold my hand out and focus my chakra to it. Once I've gathered enough I use a change in chakra nature and lightning starts to crackle around my arm as ball of lightning forms in my palm. "Chidori!" I shout rushing at another boulder. As soon as my hand makes contact the rock crumbles.

"Again." Kakashi says. I start the jutsu again, but this time I get a little creative. Using another change in chakra nature wind starts to whip around my arm in razor sharp tendrils like a drill.

"Chidori!" I strike another boulder and the destruction is so massive that it leaves a huge crater in the ground. "I'm… gonna have to… work on… controlling that one." I pant.

"What did you do? You more than tripled the destructive power!" Kakashi says in awe.

"I just… added some…wind."

"Are you okay?" He asks worriedly.

"It just took… a bit more chakra… than I expected." I huff. "Just… give me a minute." Black spots dance in my vision and I blink to clear them away.

"Are you sure?" He asks skeptically.

"Yeah, I'm…" My eyes roll into the back of my head as darkness invades my mind.

I wake up to a loud growl from my stomach. Groaning I rollover and look at the clock. 1:30, ugh. I crawl out of bed and make my way to the kitchen. This is horrible! It's the middle of the night, everyone's asleep, and there's no way I'm going back to bed. Guess it's time for a moonlight picnic. And by picnic I mean instant ramen on the roof.

I quickly make my ramen and hop from my window to the roof. I sigh contently and slurp down my food while staring at the breathtaking almost full moon. I hear a low growl and look around spotting a silhouette on a nearby rooftop. Masking my chakra, I make my way over to find Gaara on his knees clutching his head. "Are you okay?" I ask quietly.

His head snaps up and he looks at me with wild eyes. "Go away!" He growls.

"Well, hello to you too." I say voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I said go away!" He shouts and suddenly clutches his head.

"Seriously," I say concern replacing my sarcasm. "Are you okay?"  
"Why do you care?" His voice laced with pain.

Because for some dumb reason I feel attracted to you and care about you. But I can't say that, because from what I saw of his past he wouldn't like it. "I don't know," I lie. He opens his mouth to reply, but winces and clutches his head tighter. I slowly make my way over to him. "Does your head hurt?"

He just growls in response. My hands start to glow a soft green as I use medical ninjutsu and I go to place one on his head but his sand quickly blocks it. "What are you doing?" He snaps.

"Relax, I just want to help you." I say in a soothing voice. "I can't make the pain stop, but I can ease it to the point that it'll be bearable."

"Liar!" He yells. "You only want to hurt me! That's all anyone ever wants to do!"

"Please," I say gently. "Let me help you. I don't want to hurt you." His eyes meet mine searching them for any signs of insincerity.

"If you try anything, I'll kill you." Taking that as a go ahead, I place one hand in his soft red hair and the other on his forehead over his kanji. I try focus on taking away the pain and attempt to ignore my racing heart and hold back a blush at being this close to him. After a minute I remove my hands and take a step back trying to calm my heartbeat. Kami, I hope he can't hear it!

"Better?" I ask trying to keep my voice even.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?"

How could I be afraid? He's just a hurt, misunderstood, lonely boy in a situation similar to the one Naruto used to be in. Not to mention the fact that I like him! What should I say? "Um… I guess it's because, uh, I grew up with S-ranked criminals that are terrifyingly strong. Not to mention the years I was held captive and experimented on. After all that I've been through, few things can scare me." I yawn and stretch my arms above my head. Huh, guess I am still tired. "Well, I should probably go get some more rest for tomorrow. See you at the exam!" I wink and disappear to my apartment where I pass out as soon as my head hits the pillow.

Aw aren't Gaara and Tora so cute? I love writing about the two of them. If anyone wants I'll write a special short chapter about what just happened on the roof from Gaara's pov, but only if you guys want me to. So my three new OC's Suzume, Luna, and Hikari are based off of three of my best friends and when I write about their sensei she's based off of another of my friends.

Thank you to Aoi Kitsune12 and lizlovestoread for ideas on this chapter :)

And the sloth thing is not mine, it is my friend's. I borrowed it in order to get her personality in. Enjoy

~C.S.


	9. Special Chapter

This is my special Gaara point of view chapter. You guys are lucky that there are awesome people out there that asked for this. I hope I got his personality somewhat right... anyways I hope you like it!

~C.S.

'Just give in boy,' the gruff voice whispers. 'Just go to sleep.'

'No,' I growl. This beast is really starting to annoy me. If I could kill him I would, but in order to do that I would have to kill myself.

'It's no use fighting it. Give in and release me.' He commands.

'I said no!'

'Fine, I'll guess we'll do this the hard way. Just remember, brat, I gave you a choice.' He says excitedly, anticipating bringing me pain. I stare up at the night sky and brace myself for what is to come. 'Brace yourself all you want brat, it still wont help!' He squeals delightedly as he begins to stomp and thrash around his prison.

Pain flares in my head as I clutch it tightly, falling to my knees on the rough shingles of the roof. I let out a growl as the demon throws himself at the thick bars of his prison, intensifying the pain. 'Stop it Shukaku!'

'Only if you let me out!' He sings. Kami, of all the demons to be stuck with inside me, why did it have to be this one? Stupid one-tail.

"Are you okay?" A quiet voice asks. I whip my head up to see the girl from the exams, Tora Uchiha.

'Hm, what a pretty first victim for my rampage,' Shukaku muses as he stops his rampage inside of me.

'No! She's mine!' I mentally shout at him. I want to be the one to kill her! She broke through my ultimate defense so easily. Killing her will make me feel more alive than any of the other times. I have to get her away from here in case I let him out.

"Go away," I growl hoping it will make her leave.

"Well, hello to you too," she says sarcastically. That wasn't the reaction I was expecting. Why didn't she leave? Normally people would run for the hills, even if they didn't know I was the one-tail jinjuriki.

'She's a feisty one and brave too.' Shukaku giggles. 'Killing her will be so much fun!' I have to get her to leave!

"I said go away!" I shout as Shukaku resumes his attempt to break free. I dig my fingers into my head harder and squeeze my eyes shut as a fresh wave of pain goes through my head.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Is that… concern in her voice? No, it can't be. It's fake, she's just trying to get close enough to kill me.

"Why do you care?"

She pauses for a moment before answering. "I don't know."

I open my mouth to tell her to leave again, but Shukaku throws his entire body at the bars sending another shock of pain. "Does your head hurt?" She asks.

'She's not too bright though. It's a bit obvious it's your head.' Shukaku states as he thrashes at the bars again and I let out a growl. Quiet footsteps approach me and I feel my sand rise up to protect me against it.

"What are you doing?" I snap.

"Relax, I just want to help you." She says in a soothing voice. "I can't make the pain stop, but I can ease it to the point that it'll be bearable."

'She's lying,' Shukaku hisses. 'She just wants you to drop your guard so she can kill you!'

"Liar!" I yell at her. "You only want to hurt me! That's all anyone ever wants to do!" Painful memories of my father's assassins and my Uncle's betrayal flash through my mind.

"Please," she says gently, almost pleadingly. "Let me help you, I don't want to hurt you."

I look up and search here onyx eyes for any signs of insincerity. Finding none, I decide to ask Shukaku. 'Should I?'

'No! She only wants you to trust her so she can kill you.'

'But that's medical ninjutsu around her hands.'

'I said no!'

"If you try anything, I'll kill you," I say emotionlessly. Anything Shukaku says I shouldn't do is most likely something I should.

'Ungrateful brat!' He shouts bashing his body against his prison. Tora places one glowing hand on top of my head and the other over my kanji. Her hands are warm and gentle and I feel the pain to ebb as well as Shukaku's voice start to fade. What is this weird warm and tingly sensation in my skin? It's only where her hands are touching. It must be her jutsu. She tilts her head to the side and some of her dark hair falls, tickling my cheek. After a minute she removes her hands and steps back. Almost immediately the warm feeling disappears.

"Better?" She asks and I notice a faint dusting of pink across her cheeks. Is she sick?

"Why aren't you afraid of me?" I ask. Why is it that my own family is terrified of me, but this girl isn't?

"Um… I guess it's because, uh, I grew up with S-ranked criminals that are terrifyingly strong. Not to mention the years I was held captive and experimented on. After all that I've been through, few things scare me." She yawns and stretches her slender arms above her head. "Well, I should probably go get some more rest for tomorrow. See you at the exam!"

I stare at her silently as she winks and disappears from the roof. What an… odd girl. But more importantly, what is this warm feeling in my chest?


	10. Chapter 9

"This whole place just completely creeps me out," Sakura says as we start at the dark forest in front of us. I personally, am not impressed. I've seen kittens scarier than this place. Then again, they were giant man eating kittens that were the product of one of Orochimaru's experiments.

"It should," Anko chuckles. "They call it the Forest of Death and soon enough you're gonna find out why." Forest of Death very original, note the sarcasm.

Naruto, being the idiot that he is, sticks his butt out and in a mocking voice says, "They call it the Forest of Death and soon enough you're gonna find out why." Straightening out he points at Anko. "Do you're worst, you're not gonna scare me away! I can handle anything!"

"So looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy." Anko smirks and whips a kunai at Naruto, grazing his cheek. She appears behind him, one hand on his shoulder, and whispers, "You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid, are you? Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this forest."  
She smiles menacingly and moves her hand to touch the blood running down Naruto's face. The smile disappears in an instant and a kunai shoots out of her sleeve into her hand. A woman with long black hair and a hat rolls a disgustingly long tongue over her shoulder. Clutched in the end of her tongue is Anko's kunai. If I were her I wouldn't even think about touching that kunai, I mean that's just sick! "I was… just returning your knife." The woman says and a shiver goes down my spine. There's something familiar about her chakra and I know I've seen that tongue somewhere before.

"Why thank you grass ninja." Anko says with a closed eye smile. Hm, she must hang around Kakashi too much. They go into some kind of intense stare down before Anko speaks. "You know, I really only recommend you stand this close behind me if you wish to reach a premature end." She takes the kunai and the lady's tongue retracts into her mouth. Again, so gross.

"My pardon. With the sight of blood and your blade slicing through my hair, I'm afraid that I just became a little excited. I meant you no harm." The woman laughs and walks away.

"Likewise," Anko says to her retreating form. As she walks away, the grass ninja passes by Sakura and I. Our eyes meet for a second and a jolt of pain goes through my neck. I instantly reach my hand up and rub the spot where my curse mark is. "Seems like everyone here today is quick-tempered, there must be something in the air. This is gonna be fun."

"Quick-tempered is not the word I would use to describe that lady." I mutter under my breath. "I think creepy or disgusting would better fit her."

"Now before we begin this test I have something to hand out to you all." Anko says walking to the front and pulling a stack of papers from her coat. "It's just a standard consent form. Before the test all of you are going to have to read over this form and sign it."

"What for?" Naruto asks.

"Some of you may not come back from test and I have your consent to that risk. Otherwise it would be my responsibility!" She laughs and everyone breaks into whispers. "Now, I'll explain what you'll be doing on this test. Here pass these out." She hands the consent forms to Naruto and he takes one before passing them to me. After grabbing one I hand them to Sakura. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will tax every one of your survival skills. First, I'll give you all a description on the terrain of the practice field. The 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates. There are rivers and a forest inside. In the center is a large tower located ten kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consist of an anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." She holds up a black scroll and white scroll.

"Both of them?" A random guy asks.

"Yes, you'll be fighting to get both a heaven scroll and an earth scroll." She answers. "All together 26 teams will take part in this test. So half those teams will be going after the heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the earth scroll. I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for."

"Okay, so how do we pass the test?" My twin asks.

"Well, obviously we need to get both scrolls genius," I say rolling my eyes.

"That's not what I meant!" He exclaims.

"I know," I smirk. "I'm just messing with you. Don't take it so seriously."

"Your whole squad must bring both a heaven and earth scroll to the tower." Anko says cutting into our banter.

"That means at the very best half of us will fail, more if not every team is able to get both of the scrolls." Sakura says.

"Thank you Sakura for, once again, stating the obvious," I say and hear Ino snicker.

"Hey!" She shouts offended. "At least I'm not ugly like you and Ino-pig!"

"That's a great way to make your crush return your feelings," I say sarcastically. "Insult his twin sister and her friend! Wow Sakura, do think you could give me some advice to help with my crush?"

"Girls!" Anko shouts. "Stop arguing! And no one ever said this test would be easy."

"She started it," Sakura mumbles, but Anko just ignores her.

"Oh and one thing." She says. "The test has a time limit. You must finish it within five days."

"Five days out there!" Ino shouts.

"What are we supposed to for food?" Chouji whines.

"Just look around, the forest is full of things to eat." Anko says. "There's plenty to feed all of you."

"Yeah, but that's not all the forest has plenty of," Kabuto smirks. "There are man eating beast and poisonous plants." Way to scare the younger kids Kabuto. He should really look into a career in teaching.

"Oh man," Chouji whines again.

"Quiet down," Ino scolds. "This is why they call it survival, you know."

"That means with these circumstances there's no way half the teams will pass the test." Neji says.

"Sakura must have rubbed off on genius boy," Suzume says. I didn't even notice they were here! Wow, I should really pay more attention to my surroundings. "Now he's stating the obvious."

"Shut up, Suzume!" Sakura shouts. "Kami, I can't believe we're even related."

"Believe me," Suzume sighs. "I wish we weren't."

"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter. So we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover." Lee interjects. "It is a challenge indeed!"

"Bring it on!" Hikari shouts.

"Completely surrounded by enemies there won't be time to rest. We'll have to keep a constant watch." Sasuke says.

"You can keep a constant watch if you want, but I'm getting as much sleep as possible." I say. "That way when you're sluggish and slow from fatigue I can save you ass in a fight."

"Right." Anko says. "This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge."

"So, um, let's say mid exam, can we quit?" Shikamaru asks with his hand raised.

"Of course not! In the middle of a battle you can't say 'sorry I quit,'" Anko says then rethinks her answer. "Well, I guess you could, but it'll probably get you killed."

"Oh just great," Shikamaru groans. "This is gonna be a drag."

"There are also some ways you can get disqualified," Anko says holding up a finger. "The first is simple, if all three members of the team can't make it to the tower within five days. The exception to this is the four man squad, in their case all four of them must make it to the tower. Number two, if the team loses a member or if a member becomes incapacitated and cannot continue. But most important, none of you, absolutely none of you may look at the contents of the scroll until you've reached the tower."

"What if it just happens to fly open and you read it?" Naruto asks.

"Let me put it to you this way young man. You. Don't. Want. To. Know." Anko smiles. "There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents. The scroll rule is to test your integrity. Okay we're done. Each team take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scrolls." She points towards a table manned by a few shinobi and a curtain in front of it. "After that each team pick a gate and you'll be let inside. Oh and I have one more word of advice… Just don't die!"

We all disperse and everyone starts to read their forms. Whatever, it's not like any of these people can hurt me. I mean I did train with one of the most powerful groups of rouge shinobi around. I take a seat on the ground in front of a tree and lean back against the rough bark. I quickly sign my name and set the form aside. Glancing around at the competition I notice Luna waving avidly at me and Suzume motioning for me to join them.

I slowly get up and walk over to them. "Hey guys," I smile.

"Tora!" Suzume squeals in a childish voice. "I missed you!"

"I don't want to alarm you Tora," Hikari says, "But there's a guy staring at you and he's been doing it for a while."

"Who is it?" Luna asks looking around.

"The red head from Suna." She answers.

I scan the crowd and my eyes land on Gaara. Sure enough he's standing there openly staring at me. I look away quickly and blush. I'm not exactly sure if what happened last night was real or just a dream. "Just ignore it," I say with a hint of sadness in my voice. "I'm probably just his next victim."

"What's with the blush?" Suzume asks.

"What blush?" I ask trying to feign ignorance.

"Could he be that crush you mentioned earlier?" Hikari raises an eyebrow.

"W-What? I was just s-saying I had a crush to h-help mock Sakura," I laugh nervously.

"She's lying," Suzume says. "You totally have a crush on him."

"I do no-"

"Tora has a crush! Tora has a crush!" Luna sings loudly and begins skipping around us. Everyone turns and stares at us. The heat rises to my face again and I jump on Luna's back covering her mouth with my hand.

"Could you not broadcast the fact that I have a crush to the entire world!" I shout.

"So you admit that you do have a crush on him!" Hikari exclaims triumphantly.

"I do not have a crush on him!" I fume.

"So you have a crush on someone else?"

"No!"

"But you just admitted that you have a crush," Suzume points out.

"Fine I have a crush on him! Happy now?" I yell and storm off.

"Extremely!" Luna shouts after me. Too late I realize that I stormed off in Gaara's direction. Trying not to blush or make eye contact I walk past him and his team to a boulder a few meters behind them. I lean against it and glare off at nothing. Damn it! My composure's usually better than this! What the hell is happening to me?

"Hey Tora! Come on we're gonna go get our scroll now, believe it!" Naruto shouts. Oh Kami, not that believe it thing again! This is going to be a long five days. I jog over and we go up to the table. Naruto hands the man at the desk our consent forms with a goofy grin and the man hands back a heaven scroll.

"Listen up!" Anko shouts. "All the teams have received their scroll so everybody go to your gate and wait there. When the gates open the test is on!"

We make our way over to gate 12 and I block out everything in order to mentally prepare for the test. From what Anko said, it shouldn't be too hard, but Kabuto in there anything can happen.

The guard moves and unlocks the gate. "Alright heads up you maggots!" Anko yells. "The second part of the test has begun!"

The gates open and of course instead of taking off and running like every other team is probably doing, my team just walks. "Here we go guys!" Naruto shouts.

"Don't shout!" I exclaim. "Do you want the other teams to know where we are?"

"Sorry," he apologizes.

We start walking at a slow pace until screams ring out through the air. "That sounds like someone screaming," Sakura says.

"Thank you captain obvious." I mutter sarcastically.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Naruto says trying to reassure her. "But, uh, I really gotta pee." He runs over to a bush and starts fiddling with his pants.

"Not in front of us you don't!" Sakura and I shout simultaneously.

"Go find a bush somewhere us girls can't see you!" Sakura says hitting him on the head.

"Fine," he says and sprints off.

I sit down on a rock and lean back looking at the sky. This is going to be a long five days. A little while later Naruto comes back, only it's not the real Naruto. First off his chakra's completely different from Naruto's. Secondly, Naruto's not left handed like this guy and thirdly he doesn't have the cut on his face that Anko gave him earlier. Amateur.

"Oh man, that was a lot," the imposter laughs. "I wrote my whole name!"

"That's disgusting!" Sakura shrieks and then goes on to lecture him on how gross he is. Part way through Sasuke finally catches on and punches the fake in the face. I would help, but it looks like he's got it covered. I look back up at the sky and daydream about a certain redhead.

"Tora!" Someone's hand is in front of my face and their snapping their fingers, bringing me back to reality.

"Is the imposter gone?" I ask.

"You bet!" Naruto exclaims.

"Good," I stand and stretch my unusually tan arms for an Uchiha, over my head. "But we can't trust appearances now. We need something to prove that each of us s who we say we are."

"We need a password," Sasuke says while Sakura and Naruto nod.

"We can't trust anyone who doesn't know it." I say.

"Listen closely because I'm only going to say this once." Sasuke says in a low voice. "The question will be, when does a ninja strike? And the response is, a ninja waits until the time is right. When the enemy sleeps and drops his guard. When his weapons lie forgotten in the stillness of the night. That is the moment for a ninja to strike."

"I got it," Sakura nods.

"Got one a little shorter?" Naruto asks.

"Yeah, that was a bit long." I say. "In the Akatsuki we just used things like 'What's Leader's favorite color?' To which we would respond, 'Leader is an emotionless bastard without a favorite anything."

"Sounds like a charming guy," Naruto mutters.

"Yup," I say. I wish we did something like that, I already forgot the password. Oh well…

"Okay, I'll take the scroll." Sasuke says.

"Because not giving it to the former S-ranked criminal that's stronger than all of you makes complete sense." I say under my breath. Something hits Naruto's face and he looks around in confusion.

"What was that?" We stand up just as a huge tunnel of wind hits us. Naruto is knocked into me and we grab onto each other so we aren't separated. I close my eyes as a giant snake rears up and swallows us whole.

"Let us out!" Naruto shouts stabbing the gooey pink innards with his kunai. "I'll make you sorry you ever swallowed me!"

This has to be a coincidence. There's no way this snake is _his._ Kami, please don't let this be one of Orochimaru's summoning snakes. Fear grips my body and I find myself unable to move as we slip further down the snake. Kabuto must have told him I was here! "Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto shouts and he begins to multiply filling the snake until it bursts.

Wait, if this snake really does belong to him and he's not here then… Oh no, Sasuke! "Naruto! We have to get to Sakura and Sasuke!" I shout and take off to where I feel their chakra. I know that woman's chakra felt familiar. You better be able to keep up Naruto. I pump chakra to my legs and sprint faster.

They come into sight and I see Orochimaru slithering up a tree towards Sasuke who's frozen in fear. "Stay away from my brother you bastard!" I shout and throw some kunai at him causing him to stop. I land lightly in front of Sasuke and hold a kunai out in front of me.

"Tora no! Get out of here!" Sasuke yells from behind me. "She'll kill you!"

"Well, well." He drawls. "If it isn't little Tora. You're a bad girl for running away, but I don't want your eyes anymore. I want your brother's!"

"You're not gonna get them," I growl and start up the jutsu Kakashi taught me yesterday, minus the wind so I don't pass out. Lightning sparks around my arm and I rush towards him. "Chidori!"

My lightning covered hand connects with his face and he flies backwards, hitting a tree trunk. "Now, now. Is that anyway to treat the one who gave you so many abilities?" The skin on his face melts away to reveal his pasty white skin. His right eye changes from a black color to it's normal golden-yellow with slit pupils.

"I hate you," I growl as my eyes connect with his. And excruciating wave of pain goes through my body and my hand shoots to my curse mark. Damn it! Why does it always have to hurt so much when he's around? "B-bastard." The edges of my vision start to blur before everything goes black.

_"W-where am I?" I ask as I stand in a field covered in blood._

_ "You did this to me!" A voice shrieks behind me. I spin around to see the headless body of a girl lying at my feet. Next to it is the familiar head of my old best friend, Yumi. "You killed me! Just so you could get your Mangekyo Sharingan!"_

_ "No! I-I didn't want to," I cry. "H-He made me do it! Orochimaru's the reason you're dead!"_

_ "Liar!" The decapitated head shouts. "You're the one who did this to me!"_

_ "Please, believe me!" I say as tears begin to pour down my face. My pleading onyx eyes meet her once bright purple ones._

_ "Never!" She screams. "You're a murderer! Just look at all the lives you've taken!" The bodies of all the people I've ever killed fill the field all in the state I left them in. Whispers of murderer and killer fill my ears and I fall to my knees covering them._

_ "Please stop!" Tears stream down my face and I shut my eyes so that I don't have to see it, but their faces float across the backs of my eyelids._

_ "Look at us!" They all shout and I open my eyes and take my hands from my ears. "You did this!"_

_ "Stop it! I didn't want to hurt any of you!"_

_ "But you did!" Yumi shouts. "And now you'll get what you deserve!"_

_ As one the mangled and bloody bodies all stand up and start towards me. I try to run, but Yumi's body grabs my ankles to hold me in place. A shinobi from the waterfall village that I assassinated for the Akatsuki is the first to reach me and digs his nails into the skin of my arm. Pain flares from the spot as a blood bubbles from the cuts. More and more of the people I've killed reach me and claw at my body. Ear-splitting screams tear out of my throat as pain lights up every nerve in my body._

_ "Please stop!" I shriek desperately. "Somebody help me!"_

_ "No one's coming!" Yumi shouts gleefully as a hand grabs my neck forcing their fingers into the skin to rip out my throat._

_ "NO!"_

I bolt upright from where I'm lying on the ground breathing heavily. Sweat coats my body as tears form in my eyes. That was the worst nightmare I've ever had. I clutch my hand to my heart and take deep breaths to calm myself. I look around and notice my team along with Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Tenten, Neji, and Lee all milling about the clearing I'm in. As I look at them their faces slowly change into those of my former victims. Panic seizes me as a sob escapes my throat.

They all turn to look at me. "Tora are you okay?" One of them asks in a soft voice as they slowly make their way over to me.

My heartbeat accelerates and I back away from them as the rest start moving towards me, just like in the dream. "Get away from me!" I shriek and scramble to get on my feet.

"Tora, what's wrong?" One asks as they get closer to me.

"I said get away!" I scream and take off into the forest.

"Tora!" It shouts, but I'm already long gone. I know they're my friends, but it looked so real. I had to get away. After I put a good five kilometers between us I stop to catch my breath. Another sob escapes my throat and I collapse with my head in my hands.

I haven't had a nightmare like that for a long time. Orochimaru used to have me restrained every time I woke up from one of them. But I haven't had one since I came to the Leaf. I guess seeing Orochimaru triggered it. I sense three chakra's approaching me, but they don't feel like my team. I take a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down and wipe the tears from my eyes. Shakily I get to my feet and pull out a kunai. The three people stop in a bush on the edge of the clearing I stopped at. "I know you're there." I say facing the bush. "There's no use in hiding."

"Looks like you caught us." Kiba says as he and his team emerge from the plant.

"It's not like it was hard," I say with a small smile. "You guys need to work on hiding your chakra."

"We'll keep that in mind," he laughs coming closer.

"W-Why were you c-crying?" Hinata asks in a quiet voice while pushing her two pointer fingers together in front of her.

"What are you talking about Hinata," Kiba asks. "She wasn't crying."

"Y-Yes she w-was," She says avoiding eye contact. "H-Her eyes are r-red and p-puffy."

"Really?" Kiba asks getting close to my face inspecting my eyes.

"Personal space please," I say taking a step back.

"Why're you crying?" Kiba asks.

"I… I was knocked out during a fight and while I was asleep I... er… had a nightmare." I mumble the last part and look away in embarrassment.

"It must have been one bad nightmare to make you cry." Shino says.

"It was," I agree. "But… the nightmare wasn't the worst part. When I woke up everyone around me looked like the people in the dream. I knew they were my friends, but in my moment of panic I ran and ended up here."

"W-What was the d-dream about?" Hinata asks.

"I was in a field of blood," I say biting my lip. "And… I was being attacked by everyone I've ever killed."

"You've killed people before?" Kiba asks surprised.

"When you're part of a criminal organization, you kind of have a lot of people who want you dead." I laugh. "So it's kill or be killed."

"Where's the rest of your team?" Shino asks.

"Somewhere back that way." I say pointing in the direction I came from. "But I can't go back to them just yet. They saw me in a moment of weakness and will want me to tell them about it. There's no way I can face them."

"Y-You could t-travel with us u-until your re-ready to go b-back." Hinata says shyly.

"I would love to," I smile sweetly at her. "Besides, I'm sure they'll be fine without me."

"We should get going then," Kiba says.

"Okay," I say as we take off into the trees. "So did you guys get your second scroll yet?"

"Yup," Kiba brags. "We'll be the first ones to the tower."

"We should probably keep a look out for any teams ahead of us." Shino says. "So we can avoid unnecessary confrontations."

"Yeah, yeah." Kiba says. "You know, you can be kind of creepy sometimes." Akamaru barks and Kiba sniffs the air.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Hey Hinata, check out the area about a kilometer ahead of us." Kiba says.

"O-Okay. Byakugan!" She says and veins appear around her eyes as she uses her Kekkei Genkai. "Yes, there are six people ahead of us."

"Let's stop by," Kiba says arrogantly. "Maybe we can take their scrolls and decrease the number of people who can pass."

"Or you can give the scroll to me," I say.

"Or that," he says.

"I don't think it's wise," Shino says.

"Don't worry we'll just check it out and if it seems too risky we'll leave." Kiba reassures and we continue on.

"Don't forget to hide your chakra," I say as I suppress mine. We duck behind a bush just outside a clearing and Akamaru starts whimpering and shaking.

"What's wrong boy?" Kiba asks him.

"I think I know," I say peeking out from behind the bush to see Gaara and his team facing some ninja from the Hidden Rain village. Two of them have these weird hats that are flat on top and slant down while the one in the middle has a black cloak on. "If he can sense chakra, then he's terrified by the redhead's."

"That's one scary looking bunch," Kiba says.

"Y-Yeah we should g-get out of h-here." Hinata says.

"We'll be fine," Kiba says. "As long as we stay hidden they won't know we're here."

"Do you believe the nerve of these sand ninja," One of the hat wearing ninja's says. "Challenging us head on."

"Yeah, they're a bunch of fools," the other one says.

"What's he thinking," Kiba says referring to Gaara. "That guy's way too little to take on a guy that big."

"Trust me," I say looking at Kiba. "He's stronger than you think. Don't you know that size doesn't matter?"

"Whatever," he says.

"Too bad kids," the ninja in the black cloak says. "You should have picked your opponents better. Now you're all gonna die!"

"I've heard enough out of you," Gaara says his voice, once again, sending shivers down my spine. "Let's make this quick. I don't wanna waste time on this guy." Damn, is it just me that thinks that sounded incredibly sexy? Judging by the looks on Kiba and Hinata's faces, it is just me.

"Hey Gaara," Kankuro says. "Doesn't it make more sense to follow these guys and gather information first? I mean, if they have the same type of scroll as us then we're fighting an unnecessary battle."

"I don't care. They looked at me the wrong way, so they're gonna die." He answers. That sounds a lot like something Kisame would say… well I would say it too, but it's more of a Kisame thing.

"If you think you can kill us, then try it!" The main guy says pulling a bunch of umbrellas from his back and throwing them into the air. "And now, Ninja Art: Senbon Rainstorm!" The umbrellas begin to spin as senbon begin flying off them towards Gaara.

"This is gonna be good," I say smiling sadistically. There's nothing I love more than watching total strangers fight to the death!

"Up, down, left, right. No matter where you go there's no blind spot in this jutsu and even then, it's deadly accurate!" The man says and all the senbon rain down on Gaara at the same time causing a dust cloud to form. The dust clears to reveal Gaara standing there unharmed with a sphere of sand impaled with senbon around him.

"Is that all you can do?" He asks in a deadly voice.

"It can't be! Not one wound!" The man says in disbelief. "Impossible! Alright." He sends more needles at Gaara, but his sand rises to protect him.

"A senbon rainstorm, huh." Gaara says. "I have an idea let's make it rain blood instead." Wow, I think he might be more sadistic than I am… Nah.

"That chakra," Kiba growls. "It's so powerful and do you smell that odor? His sand stinks."

"Odor?" Shino asks.

"Yeah, it smells like blood." Kiba whispers.

"He's created a wall of sand!" The man exclaims. No really? I would have never guessed! Looks like Sakura rubbed off on this guy too.

"That's right," Kankuro says smugly. "It's a defense and nothing can get through it. He carries around all that sand in the gourd on his back and when he's attacked he uses the power of his chakra to harden the sand. It's a jutsu that only Gaara can do and somehow it happens automatically, independently of it's own will. So any attacks against him would fail."

"I guess he forgot that I broke through it," I say under my breath.

"Oh yeah!" The man shouts. "Well, we'll see!"

"Just face it," Kankuro says. "You guys can't hope to defeat Gaara."

"Give me a break," the man says and charges at Gaara.

Gaara makes a hand sign before flinging his hand out and saying, "Sand coffin!" His sand flies at the man encasing his entire body in it, leaving only his face open. His umbrellas fall from the sky and stick straight up in the earth.

"L-let me go!" The man says, terrified.

"All I have to do is cover your big mouth and you'll be dead." Gaara says grabbing one of the umbrellas. Opening it he puts it over his head. "But that would be too easy and too boring."

"I like his style," I smile and Kiba looks at me as if I'm crazy. "What?"

"Nothing," he mutters.

Gaara extends his arm and the man rises into the air. "Sand burial!" He shouts and closes his hand. The sand constricts on the guy as he screams and blood flies everywhere.

"Man he really wasn't kidding when he said he was gonna make it rain blood." I whisper.

"There wasn't any pain," Gaara says. Nice to know that he's somewhat human. "I crushed him with more force than necessary, so it was over quickly. The corpse's bitter crimson tears flow and mingle with the endless sand, feeding the chaos within me and making me stronger." Looks like he's a poet too.

"J-Just take the scroll," one of the ninja says pulling it out from behind him and setting it on the ground. "Go on, here. Just take it, please spare us!"

Gaara doesn't even listen as he sends his sand to swallow the other two ninja. Their screams fill the air as he closes his hands crushing them beneath the sand. "Oh man this is bad," Kiba says. "We gotta get out of here before he finds and kills us!" Team 8 starts to crawl away, but I stay where I am.

"You guys go," I say. "I'll cover you in case he does notice. I've broken through his defense once before, so I should be okay. You three just get out of here."

"A-Are you s-sure," Hinata asks.

"Yup, I'll be fine." I say with a reassuring smile. "Just go."

"Okay," Kiba says and they continue crawling and I relocate to a high up branch to watch.

"We got lucky," Kankuro smiles as he picks up a heaven scroll. "It's a heaven scroll. Alright, let's head to the tower."

"Just shut up." Gaara growls. "It's not, it's still not enough for me!" He looks over in the direction of Hinata and her team. Shit, I gotta do something.

"Come on Gaara, let's go." Kankuro says.

"Are you scared, coward." He says and Kankuro's eyes widen. My hand shoots to my mouth in an attempt to stifle my giggles.

"Look Gaara, I know it's no problem out here for you, but it's dangerous for Temari and me. One set of scrolls is good enough. It's all we need to pass!"  
"Losers, can't tell me what to do." At that comment I can't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing. Kami, I hope the others are far enough away! I double over and clutch my stomach, but that only causes me to fall out of the tree I was hiding in. In midair I flip so that I land on the ground in a low crouch. The siblings look at me and I can see the murderous intent in Gaara's eyes while Kankuro and Temari's eyes widen. "Look, I don't even have to go very far for my next victim."

"I'd like to see you try," I smirk. "Besides what makes you think I would be the victim? You fight me and it's your blood that's going to be raining down."

"You know, for a good looking girl, you're not very bright." Kankuro says.

"Oh really?" I laugh. "That's exactly what all my other victims said and they ended up mangled beyond recognition. But I don't really want to fight any of you; I just came to watch the show. It went quicker than I expected. If it were me I would have tormented them for a while."

"You enjoyed watching Gaara kill those men?" He asks in surprise.

"They call me sadistic for a reason," I shrug. "People say it's because I was neglected as a child and lived with S-ranked criminals for a while."

"You are one screwed up girl," Temari says.

"Why thank you," I say with a bow.

"Damn," Kankuro mumbles. "Why are the hot ones always crazy?"

"What was that?" I growl.

"Nothing," he says quickly as he and his sister look at me like I'm crazy. Gaara just stands there silently staring at me, as if he's trying to figure something out.

"Well, not that this hasn't been fun or anything," I say. "But I really should go find my team; they aren't exactly the smartest people in the world and might get killed if I'm not there." I turn to leave, but Gaara's voice stops me.

"Wait. Why aren't you afraid of me?" He asks the same question he did after I helped him on the roof, if that was real and not just a dream.

"I just think there's more to you than your scary appearance and how you act. You're different and that intrigues me," I answer and wink before jumping away. Now to find my team. I search out their chakra and find it in a relatively close location. Making the correct hand sign I teleport and appear in front of them in a puff of smoke. "Hey guys!"

"Don't do that!" Sakura shouts having a spaz attack. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," I say scratching the back of my head in embarrassment.

"What happened to you?" Naruto asks. "You woke up and started freaking out then ran off!"

"I, um, had a really bad nightmare that transferred into real life." I say looking down. "I'm sorry I ran, but I was just really freaked out and needed some time to clear my head."

"It's okay," Sasuke says. "You just had us worried."

"Don't worry, I won't do it again." I smile. "So where are we on the whole scroll situation?"

"Our heaven scroll was destroyed by that Orochimaru guy," Sakura says. "And we got an earth scroll from some sound ninja." I look at her and realize that her hair is shorter than it used to be. Whatever, it's none of my business what she does with her hair.

"So we only need a heaven scroll?" I ask.

"Yup," Naruto says.

"Well then, let's go find one!" I exclaim and we take off into the woods.

"It's already been four days since the second exam began," Sasuke says as we sit around the fire waiting for the fish to cook.

"That's right," Sakura says.

"We're sure not gonna break any records," he growls. "And we only have twenty-four hours left."

"Who cares about breaking records?" I ask. "It's not like the speed in which we pass the test matters, as long as we can pass it in the five days."  
"I wonder how many of the other teams have already gotten their scrolls and finished." Sakura says. These guys need to look on the bright side. One set of scrolls was destroyed by Orochimaru, but as long as we have one scroll there's going to be another team out there with it's match. All we have to do is find them. I notice Naruto staring at the largest fish with his hands twitching, ready to grab it as soon as it's done. I pull it off the fire and he watches me with hungry eyes.

"The fish is done," I say as I rip a chunk off and pop it in my mouth. Naruto's face falls and he looks at the remaining fish. He grabs the second largest as fast as he can, but ends up reaching across the fire and burning himself.

"Ouch!" He says holding up his arm to inspect the burn.

"Here, let me see." I say grabbing his arm. I make a hand sign and my hands begin to glow with a soft green light. I touch my hand to the burn and new skin grows over it.

"Thanks Tora," he smiles.

"No problem," I say and sit back to enjoy my fish.

"We have to face it," Sakura says sadly. "There may not be any more heaven scrolls left."

"Well that's a cheerful thought," Sasuke says and I give him a weird look. "What?"

"You used sarcasm," I say in disbelief.

"Yeah so?" He asks.

"You never use sarcasm. That's my thing."

"Well if you were in the Leaf for the years you were with the traitor you would know that it's my thing too." He growls.

"Why do you always have to connect everything to Itachi?" I ask. "Honestly it gets kind of annoying after a while."

"Whatever," he says standing up.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asks.

"To get more water." He growls and storms off into the woods.

"He's mad at me," I sigh and lay back on the ground. "Oh well, he'll get over it."

"Hey guys," Naruto whispers. "I know how to do this without having to face anyone."

"Huh?"

"Look," Naruto says dumping some scrolls out of his bag.

"Look at what?" Sakura asks.

"What do you mean, look at what?" He exclaims. "Scrolls, I've got tons of them."

"Congratulations," I say sarcastically. "But how that going to help us?"

"We can change one to look exactly like the heaven scroll," He answers.

"Stop!" Sakura shouts. "Don't even! Even if you could fake the outside, how are you gonna fake the inside? You couldn't know without reading it and that's against the rules, idiot!"

"I think I've got it all figured out," he says putting a hand to his chin. "I think these things have a code written in them that only makes sense if you put them both together! And that secret code is what you need to get into the tower at the end of the exam, get it?"

"All I get is that you're a nimrod. We've never even had a heaven scroll so how on earth are we going to fake what's inside it!" She shouts and Naruto's face falls. "Next brilliant idea you get, how about keeping it to yourself. We've got enough problems."

"Harsh," I mumble.

"But wait," Naruto says seriously. "We do have a clue as to what's inside the heaven scroll. The earth scroll." He holds it up.

"You wouldn't," Sakura growls.

"It's our only chance. I'm gonna open and read this scroll."

"Naruto can't you get it through your empty head?" She shouts and hits him on the head. "We were forbidden from opening the scrolls until we're at the tower!"

"I know," Naruto says as tears stream down his face. "But if we don't do anything we'll never make it!"

Sakura sits back as both their eyes wander to the earth scroll. "Okay let's do it," Sakura says and Naruto picks it up.

"I wouldn't if I were you." I say.

"What else are we supposed to do?" Sakura asks me. "This could be our only chance!"

"Whatever," I say and close my eyes. "Just don't blame me when this blows up in your faces." My thoughts drift to Gaara and the fight I witnessed a few days ago. I wonder what happened to him to make him that way. Could his past be similar to mine?

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," an extremely annoying voice says breaking into my thoughts. Opening my eyes I see Kabuto with his hand on the scroll stopping Naruto from opening it. "Hello Tora." He says with an irritating smirk.

"Kabuto," I growl.

"It's been a long time." He says.

"Not long enough."

"Wait, you two know each other?" Naruto asks looking between us.

"Sadly, yes." I say. "We met during the years I was wandering with the Akatsuki."

"You don't have to sound so excited to see me," Kabuto says sarcastically.

"If that's what you think, then I must not be doing a good job of showing my hatred of you." I retort as Sasuke runs over to us with a kunai out. "You can put the knife away, he's not here to hurt us."

"Then why is he here?" My twin asks.

"To stop those two idiots," I say pointing at Sakura and Naruto. "They were going to open the earth scroll."

"I can't believe you guys!" Sasuke says looking at them.

"If I didn't come along when I did," Kabuto says. "They would have opened it."

"Sorry," they mumble and look down at their feet.

"There have been others who have broken the rules and tried to peek at the scrolls. I've seen what happens to them. They're protected by a powerful hypnosis jutsu, a kind of booby trap for anyone unwise enough to try to read them." Kabuto explains. "It'll knock you senseless and by the time you wake up the exam is over."

"Kabuto right?" Sasuke asks. "We met at the registration. What are you doing wandering around all by yourself?"

"Don't worry I'm not after your earth scroll." Kabuto says.

"Yeah, he's probably after our lives," I mumble to myself.

"I'm not," Sasuke says. "I suppose if you were you would have swiped it from Naruto when you had the chance. So you're looking for a heaven scroll too huh?"

"Not really," he says pulling out two scrolls and holding them up. "You see I already have them both. I had a run of luck, I was just on my way to the tower to wait until my teammates show up. So if you'll excuse me." Of course he already has both scrolls. He probably manipulated it out of someone. His presence is really starting to piss me off, not to mention the fact that we seem to have another unwanted guest watching us.

"Hold it," Sasuke says. "I'll fight you for it."

"You'll fight me for it?" Kabuto asks.

"Hold on a second!" Naruto yells. "Is this a joke or what?"

"Are you serious?" Kabuto asks.

"Perfectly, but I don't have time to play nice."

"Back off Sasuke!" Naruto screams at him. "In case you've forgotten this guy saved our butts!"

"Naruto's got a point," Sakura says. "We don't want to be ungrateful or anything."

"Shut up! It can't be helped, it's either him or us. Out here it's all about surviving and winning, nothing else matters!"

"That's the spirit bro!" I cheer. "Kick his ass!"

"Hm, you're lying." Kabuto says. "Come on admit it, for all your tough talk you're heart really isn't in it. If it was really true, if winning is all that really matters to you, why openly challenge me to a fight? Why announce it and put me on my guard? Why not just jump me when my back is turned? After all that's what a ninja would do."

"That's pretty deep," Naruto says.

"It's okay, I admire you for it." Kabuto smiles and I shudder. "So here's what I'll do, I'll show you the path you should follow. But let's go, it's best we get outta here. The smell of that cooking fire will draw every beast in these woods and not just the beast, the competition too." He smirks as I feel the chakra of our other guest disappear.

"There's no way I'm going with you," I say and turn my back on them.

"What? Why not?" Naruto asks.

"Because he's a lying, cheating, manipulative, bastard!" I shout. "And I wouldn't trust him for anything!"

"How can you say such a thing?" Sakura gasps. "He saved us from opening the scroll."

"That's what he does!" I exclaim. "He does something nice, gets you to trust him, then stabs you in the back!" Multiple times with a fucking scalpel while Orochimaru injects you with some weird fluid that makes your body feel as if it's on fire!

"Tora," Kabuto says with mock sincerity. "I'm hurt that you would think that about me. I would never do anything to hurt you or your team."

"Funny," I laugh. "Because I remember you saying something like that just before the Northern Hideout Incident."

"What's the Northern Hideout Incident?" Sasuke asks.

"Don't worry about it," I say and glare at the glasses wearing bastard in front of me. "You guys can go with him if you want, but I'm going to find my own way and search for a heaven scroll. I'll meet you at the tower." I jump away from them and take off into the forest. Once I've put enough distance between us and Kabuto I stop and search the surrounding area for chakra. It's my lucky day, because I sense three people coming towards me.

I pull out a kunai and hide high up in a tree. "Are you sure we're going the right way?" A familiar voice asks as my least favorite team, at least at the moment, stops below me.

"Yes I'm sure we're going the right way," Suzume says looking at Hikari. "They call me a genius for a reason."

"Of course it's you guys," I say dropping from the trees. "Now I can't attack you and steal your scrolls."

"Tora!" Suzume squeals.

"Who in the what now?" Luna asks spinning around and seeing me. Her eyes widen and she runs up to put me in a bone crushing hug. "I'm so sorry I embarrassed you like that! Please don't be mad at me!"

"I-I can't br-breath," I gasp.

"Sorry," she says releasing me.

"And I'm not mad at you anymore." I smile. "I'm just glad my brother didn't hear you."

"He would probably interrogate you on it," Suzume giggles.

"Yeah," I laugh.

"Speaking of your brother, where is he and the rest of your team?"

"With the silver haired asshole I pointed out to you guys at the first exam." I sigh.

"Why are they with him?" Hikari asks.

"They bought his nice guy act, but after all the shit he's done to me I wasn't fooled and I told them if they were going to be around him, I'll leave. So I left. We're meeting at the tower." I explain.

"So you guys have both scrolls?" Luna asks.

"No," I sigh. "I still need to find us a heaven scroll."

"Oh," she says. "Well you're more than welcome to come with us to the tower."

"Thanks," I say smiling gratefully. "Hopefully we can find another team and I can get a heaven scroll along the way."

"That's the spirit!" Hikari says hitting me on the back.

"We should get going," Suzume says. "It's starting to get dark." I look up at the sky and realize that the moon's already coming out.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Hikari asks. "Let's go!"

"I wonder if that cute red head you like passed," Luna teases.

"He did," I say.

"How do you know?"

"I saw one of their battles with some rain ninja's and at the end his brother was saying how lucky they were that it was a heaven scroll and that they should head to the tower." I explain.

"So is this guy you like strong?" Suzume asks. "Actually I don't think you've told us his name either."

"His name is Gaara," I say. "And yes, he's extremely strong. He took down all of the ninja by himself and I learned that he's just as sadistic as me. I think I was scaring poor Hinata with my smile."

"Why was Hinata with you?" Luna asks.

"I was with her team, because I left my team after having a nightmare turned to a breakdown." I say.

"So what did he do to qualify as sadistic?"

"He made it rain blood and after killing the leader of the group he didn't spare the others, even after they willingly gave up their scroll. And the whole reason he fought them was because they looked at him the wrong way," I laugh.

"Are you saying you would have done the same?" Suzume asks.

"Yup," I smile.

"I think you need to meet our sensei," Hikari says. "You two would get along great."

"Really?" I ask.

"Mhm."

"That's cool," I say. "So how much further to the tower?"

"We should be there soon," Suzume answers as the big red building comes into view.

"Awes-" The world begins to blur and when it comes back into focus I'm no longer with Suzume and the twins. I'm in another darker area of forest and my team is surrounded by a bunch of clones. The chakra is the same as the guy who tried to impersonate Naruto on the first day.

Naruto flies at one and hits it, but he goes right through it as if it were made of water. I watch as another clone grows out of the body of the one Naruto just hit. Oh Kami, if this is a vision then they could be dead by now! One goes to hit Naruto, but Sasuke throws some shuriken at it, cutting off it's arm. That's all I get to see because in the next moment I'm back in the forest with Suzume's team.

"Are you okay?" Luna asks. "We were running and all the sudden you just collapsed!"

"I'm fine," I say. "I just had a vision."

"A what?" Hikari asks.

"I explain later." I say and look up at the sky. The moon is in the exact same position as it was in the vision. Could it be that it was a vision of the present? Standing up I search for my teams chakra and find it a few kilometers away surrounded by an unknown mass of chakra. So it is the present. "Sorry guys, but my team's in trouble, I've gotta go!"

"Okay," Suzume says. "Just make sure you find a heaven scroll and pass the exam."

"Don't worry, I will." I smile and take off to save my team.

"Bye Tora!" They shout after me.

I force chakra to my legs and sprint as fast as I can. Hopefully I can get there in time to save them, but not Kabuto. I hope they kill him off. The forest blurs around me as the moonlight creates swirls of color around me. I don't make it until the sun is about to come up. I stop and hide in the trees as I look down at the scene. My team and Kabuto, who is sadly still alive, are on their knees breathing heavily as the clones around them begin to disappear and the real ninja come out of hiding. It only takes me a second to realize that the people on the ground are only Naruto and three of his shadow clones transformed. I search out the other's chakra and find it hidden in a bush behind the ninja. "Clever." I breath. "Use the clones to draw them out. Must have been Kabuto's idea."

The three ninja's eyes widen as they finally catch on and the others reveal themselves. "It looks like they've got this under control." I smile and jump away to go to the tower and wait for them. I make it there just as daybreaks and sit back against our door. A little while later Naruto comes out of the woods and runs over to me excitedly.

"Tora you aren't gonna believe this!" He shouts and launches into his story about the clones and how they defeated them.

"Good for you!" I smile. "And you got a heaven scroll. That's good, because I was going to jump a team for theirs, but they ended up being the team with Sakura's cousin and they're my friends so I traveled here with them."

"Kabuto you're late," a deep voice says as two men walk out of the woods. I'm assuming they're more of Orochimaru's followers here to pose as Kabuto's team.

"Sorry," he says. "But I got a bit sidetracked."

"Yeah and are we glad you did!" Naruto laughs. "It's only thanks to you that we got all of our scrolls."

"Not really," he says. "You did most of it on your own. Especially you Naruto, very impressive." Naruto just laughs and grins wider.

"Oh great," I mumble. "Now I have to worry about him taking in interest in Naruto."

"Well, this is where we go in. Goodbye and good luck to us both," he says with a smile.

"Yeah, break a leg." I say. "Literally. Or better yet go jump off a cliff."

"Tora, a pleasure as always," he walks over and hugs me to whisper in my ear. "Believe me, if we didn't have your brother, I would be here for you. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other in the future. See you soon." He releases me and I groan.

"Great, now I have to burn these clothes. I hope we get to go home soon because I want to shower and scrub the Kabuto germs off of me!" He only laughs as him and his team enter their door. "Asshole." I mutter.

Naruto goes over to our door and pushes it open. We walk into an empty room with a banner on the other end. "There's no one here," Naruto says looking around. "I don't get it, what do we do now?"

"Hold on!" Sakura says pointing at the banner. "Just look at that."

"Great," Naruto says. "What is it?"

"If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher." She reads. "If earthly qualities are what you lack, then train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This something is the secret way that guids us from this place today."

"This what?" Naruto asks. "Or is that a secret too?"

"It's like there's a word missing there. Anyways it's about the scrolls. I think we're supposed to read the heaven and earth scrolls now." She says taking the heaven scroll from Naruto.

"Okay, here goes nothing," Naruto says as they open the scrolls. I look at the markings and realize those are for a summoning.

"Guys drop the scrolls and stand back!" I say. They follow my orders and drop the scrolls. As soon as they hit the floor Iruka appears in a puff of smoke.

"Hey long time no see, huh?" He says looking up with a smile.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura asks in disbelief.

"Looks like you've been through a lot in this test," he says.

"Hey wait, what's the deal with the surprise entrance? Why are you appearing with the summoning?" Naruto asks.

"At the end of the exam we chunin are sent to welcome the test takers back and well it was just good luck that I was the one givin the important task of being the messenger for you guys," he explains stepping forward.

"A messenger?" Sakura asks. Wow this is boring. I wonder what Kakashi's up to. Once we get out of here I think I'll go irritate him. Or practice my new version of his jutsu. Or I can irritate Kakashi by using him as a target to practice my new jutsu! That's perfect! Man I'm such a genius.

I wonder when I'll see Gaara again. I really want to fight him, he seems like he could be the only person in these exams that would be a challenge for me to fight. Well, Kabuto would be a challenge too, but with how much I hate him I'm sure I can kick his ass easily. But Gaara's a completely different story. I've only seen him fight once and his style is a complete mystery to me. Not to mention that I wouldn't take the fight seriously because I like him. At least I'm the only one who likes him, I would die if he had a group of fan-girls following him around like they do my brother.

"Tora!" Someone shouts. "Hey, earth to Tora!"

"Hm?" I ask as I snap out of my thoughts.

"We have to go." Naruto says.

"Go?" I ask. "Go where?"

"Weren't you paying attention to what Iruka-sensei said?" Sakura asks.

"Um… no."

"Man do you have a short attention span," She sighs. "Anyways we have to go to a practice hall in the tower in order to get a speech from the Hokage."

"Oh joy," I mumble.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Naruto shouts as he runs off.

"Naruto wait!" Sakura shouts and runs after him. I notice Sasuke having difficulty standing and I hold out a hand to him.

"Need some help?"

"Hn, no." He says stubbornly as he shakily stands up.

"Too bad." I smile and grab his left arm and throwing it around my shoulder to support his weight. "Come on, let's go find our irritating teammates."

"Whatever," he grunts turning his head away as we start walking. Out of the corner of my eye I notice something black on his neck. I turn my head to get a better view and see a curse mark similar to my own. Anger bubbles up inside me and I struggle to contain it. How dare that snake bastard do this to my brother! Next time I see him, he's dead!

I know it's been a while since I last updated and I'm extremely sorry for that, but to make it up to you readers I made this chapter really long :) I want to thank AoiKitsune12 and lizlovestoread for encouraging me and yelling at me for not writing as well as all the people who have followed this and told me what they think. You guys are awesome! I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and hopefully it won't take as long to write the next one.

~C.S.


	11. Chapter 10

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam," Anko announces as we stand in lines in front of her, the Hokage, a bunch of Chunin, and the Jounin sensei's. I, of course, get to be the awkward one who stands in her own little row because we're a team of four instead of three.

"I'm really hungry," I hear Chouji whine.

"What a drag," Shikamaru complains. "There's so many left. This is such a pain." He's right, of course, eight teams made the cut and that makes twenty-five people here.

"Looks like Tora and her team have passed too!" Ino says happily.

"Well of course they did," Shika drawls. "After all the trouble we went through to keep them safe, they better have passed." It's not like we asked for their help, besides if I hadn't been knocked out by my curse mark we wouldn't have even needed it! I look up at Kakashi and see the strange man in spandex having a mini freak out next to him. I have to cover my mouth with my hand in order to stifle my laughter. My eyes travel over the rest of the sensei's and pain flares in my neck when I see the Sound ninja sensei. Who the hell does Orochimaru think he's fooling? It's obvious to anyone who knows him that it's him!

"Hey look," Sakura whispers. "All of the Leaf Village rookies are here too."

"Whoa, everyone's here!" Naruto says. "Old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and even Bushy Brow! It looks like nobody got left out this time!"

"Hn, I don't have a very good feeling about this," Sasuke growls holding onto his shoulder with the curse mark.

"Alright now pay attention," Anko shouts. "Lord Hokage is going to explain the third exam to you, you better listen carefully maggots!"

"She really likes calling us maggots, doesn't she?" I mutter to myself.

"Lord Hokage," She says with a bow. "They're all yours."

The Third takes a few steps forward and clears his throat before speaking. "First, before I tell you what the third exam entails, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now, it's something all of you need to understand. I'm going to tell you the true purpose of these exams. Why do you suppose our country holds these exams in conjunction with our allies?"

"Don't know, don't care." I mumble.

"To raise the ability level of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations, to be sure. But it's important that you understand the true meaning. The exams are, so to speak, they're a representation between the battle of allied nations."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten asks in surprise.

"Now if we look at our history all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly, those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location. That was how the Chunin selection exams originally began." The Hokage says.

"Well that's great," Naruto says. "But why do we have to go through these exams then? I mean it's not like we're doing this to pick Chunin to go fight!"

"Well actually, there is no question that part of these exams is to select shinobi worthy of becoming Chunin, that's just not the whole story," the Hokage explains. "These exams also allow for a place where shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight against other ninjas for their very lives."

"The pride of their nation?" Sakura asks.

"Many leaders and people of prominence from their countries are invited to attend this exam as guests and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out. But more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there is a gap in power between the countries the strong countries are inundated with job request for their ninja and conversely the request to countries that are deemed week decline. Therefore the stronger our nation is, the better our position is when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries. So it's important to show how much military strength our village has."

"Okay even so," Kiba shouts. "But why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?"

"The countries strength is the village's strength. The village's strength is the shinobi's strength and the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it is pushed to it's limits, such as in a life and death battle. This exam is chance for each nation to display the strength of it's shinobi and hence the strength of the nation itself. It's because this is an exam where your life is on the line that it has meaning and it's for this very reason that for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this exam! It's truly a dream worth striving for!"

"But then why did you use the expression friendship before?" Tenten asks.

"But you've only remembered half of what I've said. You mustn't also have the wrong idea of the exam's meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying. In the world of the shinobi, that is friendship. The third exam is a fight for your life, with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake."

"Any test is fine," Gaara says in a menacing voice. "Just tell me what the details of the exam are already. I can handle anything you throw at me."

"Very well then," He nods. "Now listen closely I'm going to tell you exactly what you'll all be doing on the third exam-"

"Lord Hokage," a man appears in front of the Third kneeling. "Before you do, please allow me, Hayate Geko appointed as proctor of the third exam to speak first."

"So be it," The Hokage says.

"It's nice to meet you all," the man, Hayate, stands up and goes into a coughing fit. "There's something I would like all of you…" More coughing. "To do before the third exam." And he coughs again!

"I think he's going to hack up a lung." I murmur quietly, but Tenten catches it and holds a hand to her mouth the stifle her giggles.

"Uh, we have to have a preliminary exam before we can move onto the real one." Hayate says.

"That sounds like fun," I hear Luna say.

"Preliminary!" Shika shouts. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry sensei, excuse me," Sakura says. "But I really don't see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move onto the third exam?"

"Uh, well you see," He explains. "The first and second exams might have been too easy. The fact is we never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin exams, a preliminary round can be held at any stage in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining."

"But is that fair?" Sakura asks.

"Well it is in the rules," I mutter.

"It's just that at this stage we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said, a lot of important guest will be watching. We can afford to waste their time; they've come to see only the best. So if any of you feel you are not in top physical condition, now's the time to," he trails off into yet another coughing fit. "Sorry about that. As I was saying, any of you who don't feel up to this now is the time for you to bow out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately."

"Come on!" Kiba yells. "You mean right now?"

"Well, that is what people normally mean when they say immediately," I say sarcastically.

"We just barely finished surviving the last exam," Ino whines. "Don't we get a break?"

"Man what a drag." Shika complains.

"When do we get to eat?" Chouji asks. What a bunch of wusses! Don't they know that there are no breaks in the shinobi world?

"Oh yeah, uh, the winners will be determined by one on one combat sudden death. So like I said, if anyone doesn't feel up to it, now's the time to raise your hand." Hayate says.

I hope I get to fight Kabuto. He needs a good ass kicking, especially when he acts like he's better than me. Another wave of pain washes of me, but I grit my teeth through it. In front of me, Sasuke's doing the same and Sakura's whining about something, but I can't hear her through the throbbing in my head. Damn it, if I don't get it together soon I might end up losing my match! The pain recedes just as Kabuto raises his hand.

"Okay, you got me I'm out." He smiles.

"But Kabuto," Naruto says.

"Kabuto Yakushi of the Leaf Village right?" Hayate says. "Okay, you can go on and step back."

"Gotcha," Kabuto says and turns to leave.

"Damn it," I mutter as Naruto and him exchange a few words. "I really wanted to kick his ass."

"Good luck, Tora." He smirks as he passes me on his way out the door. "I hope you win."

"I hope you get impaled by millions of kunai and bleed to death," I spit back, but he only chuckles.

"You always were such a jokester," he laughs and continues on his way.

"I wasn't joking!" I call after him. "If I could I would kill you right now, but that would land me in shinobi prison!"

"What did that guy ever do to piss you off?" Kiba asks as everyone in the room stares at me.

"Don't worry about it," I shrug. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Hayate coughs and diverts everyone's attention away from me. "Now then, does anybody else wanna quit?"

Some drama happens between my team, but I just ignore it and daydream about the multiple ways I can kill Kabuto.

"Alright then," Hayate says when no one backs out. "We'll now begin the preliminary round. This round will consist of one on one individual combat, at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise, there are twenty-four of you remaining, so that means we need twelve matches. The surviving candidates from these twelve matches will advance to the third exam. As for the rules, there are none. You will fight until one dies or concedes defeat or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest. Naturally those who are losing are urged to concede defeat promptly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor I am given a certain amount of leeway in judging the matches." He coughs again.

"I might occasionally intervene if a match seems hopeless, to save as many lives as possible. Now it's time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you." He nods and a panel opens behind him to reveal a monitor. "The names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random. Before each match the names will appear on the monitor behind me. As there's nothing more to say, let's begin. In a moment the names of the first two opponents will appear."

We all look up at the monitor as names begin to flash across it in yellow print. The names stop and my eyes widen. _Dosu Kinuta vs. Tora Uchiha_. Yes I get to go first! But who the hell is Dosu Kinuta?

"Alright now, those whose names have been drawn come forward." I step forward and so does the Sound ninja that attacked Kabuto before the first exam. "You have been chosen for the first match. Dosu Kinuta and Tora Uchiha. Are there any objections?"

"No," Dosu says.

"None that I can think of," I say.

"Uh, alright then, let's begin the first match." Hayate coughs. "Okay everyone other than the two opposing candidates will now clear the area and move to the upper level."

Everyone makes their way to the balconies surrounding the arena. "Good luck Tora," Naruto calls to me.

"Please," I scoff. "I don't need luck to beat this guy." Especially since he's just one of Orochimaru's sacrificial ninjas.

"Just don't get too cocky," Kakashi says as he passes me.

"Don't worry," I smile. "I can take him."

"Try not to overdo it," he sighs and messes up my hair before going to the balcony. Once everyone's gone it's just Dosu, Hayate and I in the arena.

"Watch yourself little girl," Dosu sneers as we enter a stare down.

"Okay if you're ready," Hayate says. "Let the first match begin!"

Dosu charges at me aiming a punch, from what I know about his encounter with Kabuto just dodging back won't work. His fist flies towards me and I jump straight up into the air. A high pitched sound reaches my ears and I feel pain explode in my head. I drop to the ground in a fetal position trying to block out the noise.

"Tora!" I hear my teammates shout.

"Poor little girl," Dosu drawls. "You're so weak."

"Weak?" I whisper and push myself up despite the pain. Anger boils in the pit of my stomach and I close my eyes. Taking a deep breath I shout, "Nobody… calls me weak!" My eyes snap open and I race towards him.

"You can't beat me!" He shouts sending another sonic attack at me. There's nothing I can do but push through the pain. I sprint forward meeting the sound waves head on and ignore the excruciating pain pulsing through my body from both his attack and my curse mark. I aim a punch at his head, but he blocks it. Using my momentum I swing a leg forward for a kick, but he blocks it with sound waves and throws me back. I hit the wall hard and cough. Something wet trickles down my chin and I know its blood.

"If you can't even beat me," he smirks and walks over to me holding me up by my shirt collar. "How do you expect to kill Lord Orochimaru?"

"T-The fight i-isn't over y-yet," I say between clenched teeth.

"Oh but it is." He smiles menacingly. "I think I'll just kill you right now and then Lord Orochimaru will take your dear brother and use him as his next vessel. How does it feel to be helpless to save both yourself and your brother?"

"I'll never," I growl as anger grows in the pit of my stomach. I feel the curse mark start to burn and spread over my body and close my eyes from the pain. "Let him have my brother!" My eyes open and a clawed hand lashes out punching Dosu back into the wall across the arena. I feel my conscious retreat to the back of my mind as the demon takes over.

"It's been ages since I was let out," the demon says in my voice. "Oh and it seems Tora's let me out in an area with a lot of people. Quenching my bloodlust should be easy."

'No!' I shout from inside my mind. 'Stop! I didn't mean to let you out!'

'Oh, but Tora dear it's too late,' the demon chuckles, also in my mind. 'Now watch as I kill this man for you and then move onto killing all your friends.'

Kakashi POV.

"How does it feel to be helpless to save both yourself and your brother?" That Dosu guy asks, holding Tora against the cracked stone wall.

"I'll never," Tora shouts as black marks begin to cover her body. Her hands seem to grow larger as her finger nails are replaced my claws. Her hair changes to a deep shade of orange and grows longer and more ridged while two catlike ears appear on top of her head. Two of her top teeth elongate to form fangs, similar to those of a saber-toothed tiger. A short coat of fur forms on her skin, the same shade as her hair with black marks like a tiger, and a tail forces its way from her lower back. "Let him have my brother!" Her eyes open to reveal her Sharingan and she lashes out at Dosu with a clawed hand, sending him flying back into the wall across the arena.

"It's been ages since I was let out," she purrs. "Oh and it seems Tora's let me out in an area with a lot of people. Quenching my bloodlust should be easy."

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto looks back at me from his place at the railing. "Something's wrong, that's not Tora."

"I've noticed," I say. Tora may be sadistic, but she's not sadistic to the point of killing.

"So the beast finally comes out," Dosu says getting up from the ground. What does he mean?

"Shut up, human," Tora snaps. "As a thank you for being the one to get Tora angry enough to let me out, I will kill you first and it won't be as painful as the deaths of the others." Tora disappears from sight and reappears next to Dosu. She picks him up from the ground and tosses him in the air. "Tiger Art: Thousand Claw Strike!"

Tora jumps into the air after the Sound ninja and punches him multiple times. Her hands are a blur and I can't keep up with how many times she's hit him. She lands one final blow and Dosu shoots up and hits the ceiling before falling back to the ground. He stands up slowly and swipes his arm through the air, sending what I assume is another sonic attack.

"Silly human," Tora smirks. "You cannot beat me."

She walks over to him and kicks him in the chest sending him sprawling on the ground. "P-Please…" Dosu chokes out as blood runs down his chin. "H-Have mer-mercy!"

"I'm sorry," she smiles gruesomely. "But mercy is not in my vocabulary." The claws on her hands gleam as they tear through the air. There's a sickening sounds as they sink into Dosu's throat. He lets out one more weak cough before going still.

Tora pulls her claw from him and darts her tongue out to lick the blood. "Time for the rest of you." She turns around and her eyes lock onto me.

Tora POV

I can only watch helplessly as the demon tears into Dosu's throat with her claw. 'Please, stop!' I shout.

'Why should I stop?' She asks. 'I'm having too much fun.' She brings the bloodied claw up to her mouth and licks at the blood.

"Time for the rest of you." She turns and her eyes lock onto Kakashi. 'That one looks like a good first target.'

'No! Don't you dare touch my sensei!' I scream and struggle to regain control.

'Or maybe I'll go for the stupid looking blond kid standing in front of him,' she muses. 'No wait, the cute one with the black hair!'

'If you lay one hand on my brothers I'll-'

'You'll what? You can't do anything to me!' She laughs and starts advancing towards my family.

'I. Said. No!' I screech as my conscious overtakes hers, pushing her into the deed recesses of my mind.

'What are you doing?' She panics. 'No! I will not be overtaken by a child!' Her mind pushes back against mine and my body falls to its knees.

'I won't let you hurt the people I care about again!' I scream and with one final push my mind and body are my own again. I look down at my hands as the claws and fur recede and I feel my canines going back to their normal length. I look up at Kakashi as tears flood my vision. "I'm sorry," I whisper, but I know he heard it.

"Uh, the winner is Tora," Hayate says and coughs. "The next match will begin shortly after we clean the blood from the arena."

I shakily make my way to my feet and almost fall, but a strong pair of arms catches me. "Take it easy," Kakashi says as he helps me stand.

"Miss Uchiha," a Chunin says walking over to us. "The Hokage wishes to speak with you."

"I figured," I muttered. "Can Kakashi come with me?"

"Actually," the ninja says. "The Hokage requests that all the Leaf's Jounin sensei's are there."

"Okay," Kakashi says. "We'll be right there."

Instead of helping me walk there, because it would be too slow, Kakashi picks me up bridal style and carries me out of the arena to a privet room at the top of the tower. When we enter all the Jounin stare at me as if I'm a monster, but I guess in a way I am. Kakashi carries me over to a couch across from the Third and sets me down gently before taking his place among the Jounin.

"Look," I say taking a shaky breath. "I know why I'm here."

"Good," the Hokage says. "That's makes it easier to ask you to explain what just happened."

"I-It's a long story," I begin. "But I have to start back at the beginning. Long ago there lived a monster; the people called it Kurai Tora, meaning Dark Tiger. She wandered around from place to place leaving chaos and destruction in her wake. One day a shinobi challenged her, he was known as the first Tiger Sage. He beat Kurai Tora and condemned her to life as a spirit, forced to wander the world with no body for eternity."

"How do you know all this?" The Third asks. "And what does this Kurai Tora have to do with anything."

"Well," I sigh. "You just met her. That… thing I transformed into was Kurai. Her spirit now resides in my body."

"Kind of like Naruto and the nine tails, right?" Gai asks.

"Yeah," I answer.

"But how did the spirit come to reside in your body?" Asuma asks.

"When I was held captive by Orochimaru, he gave me this." I say pulling my fishnet to the side to reveal the three black tomes that make up my curse mark.

"That's a curse mark!" Anko exclaims.

"Yeah," I mutter. "When he gave it to me, my body became weak and easy to take over. At the time Kurai was wandering around Orochimaru's lair, because she enjoyed watching all the suffering that went on there. When she noticed my weakened state she took advantage of it and tried to take over my body, but something happened and she fused with my curse mark. Now whenever I use the curse mark's power, she takes over my body and goes on a rampage."

"Then we need to seal your curse mark!" A woman with black hair and red eyes says, I think she's the Jounin assigned to Kiba's team.

"It can't be sealed," I say sadly. "Sealing a normal curse mark is difficult, but mine is stronger because of Kurai. Any seal put on it would be broken."

"Then how can we be sure she won't get out again?" Gai asks.

"You can't," I mumble. "I have excellent control over my curse mark and can easily block out its power. The only time she can get out is when I'm extremely angry."

"That's right," Kakashi murmurs. "That ninja said something about you not being able to save Sasuke before you lost control."

"The only time I ever lose it is when someone threatens my family," I say. "It's also how I gained control again. Kurai was going to go after Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke first. To tell you the truth, I've only lost control one time before this."

"What happened that time," the Third asks.

"I ended up killing my best friend," I whisper hoarsely as tears fill my eyes.

"I think we've heard enough," the Hokage says. "We'll deal with this later. We need to get back to the preliminaries."

"Yes Lord Hokage," everyone says and we go back to the arena. When I reach the balcony everyone stares at me with fear filled eyes.

"W-What are you?" Sakura asks her entire body trembling.

"She's a m-monster," Chouji says. I feel my chest constrict at that word. _Monster_. That's exactly what Yumi called me, just before Kurai cut off her head.

"S-Stay away f-from us!" Kiba shouts. Tears threaten my eyes once again.

"Please," I whisper. "Let me explain."

"No!" Tenten shouts. "Just get away from us, you freak!"

"Sasuke," I whisper and my eyes look to my brother, hoping to find some sort of kindness, but all I find is a nasty glare.

"You're no better than Itachi," he says in disgust. "Murderer."

Anger boils up inside of me at his mention of Itachi. "Fine," I growl between clenched teeth and storm off. "I should have just let Kurai kill you!"

"Tora wait!" I hear Naruto shout from behind me, but I just ignore him and keep going. I make my way across the arena to the balcony across from them.

"Hey Tora," Suzume says as I walk up the stairs. Luna and Hikari take me by surprise and hug me from both sides.

"We heard what they said," Hikari starts.

"And just want you to know that they're jerks for treating you like that," Luna finishes.

"They should have at least heard your explanation, before judging you." Suzume says.

"Yeah, it's not your fault that stupid spirit's inside of you." Hikari adds.

"Wait, how do you guys know about the spirit?" I ask.

"I told them," a woman with shoulder length black hair and dark brown eyes says. "I'm Kira, their sensei."

"Oh," I mutter. "So you were there to hear my explanation."

"Yeah," she says. "I hope you don't mind me telling them, but they seemed pretty worried about you."

"It's okay," I smile.

"Personally, I think it's pretty cool that you have a blood thirsty demon inside you," Luna says.

"Thanks," I laugh.

"Don't worry about those idiots," Kira says pointing to the other balcony. "I'll have a long talk with Ino about how she treated you when we get home."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I'm her aunt," she answers. "I actually want to thank you for telling her to quit obsessing over your brother. I was starting to get sick of hearing about Sasuke."

"You're welcome," I laugh.

"Oh," Suzume says. "Just so you know, we don't call her Kira-sensei. We call her Sadistic Apricot-sensei!"

"You call her what?"

"Okay," Hayate shouts, gaining everyone's attention. "We will now begin the second match!"

"I hope it's me," Suzume mumbles. A bunch of names flash across the screen before stopping.

"The next match will be Yoroi Akado versus Sasuke Uchiha!"

Aren't the Leaf genin such jerks? All except Naruto... Anyways sorry it took a while to update, but school starts soon and I have two study halls I can write in and I can write during class. I hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think. Enjoy.

~Tora


	12. Chapter 11

I look across the balcony and see my brother smirking, idiot. Does he think this is a game? The guy he's facing is one of Kabuto's teammates! If he's one of Orochimaru's lackeys he's got some special ability that will help him win. Kakashi stops Sasuke for a second and I'm guessing that he's telling him not to use his Sharingan. I lean up against the railing in order to watch the fight.

The two face off in the middle of the arena and Hayate signals for them to begin. Yoroi lunges at Sasuke immediately and is able to grab Sasuke's head with one hand. Blue chakra emits from his hand and I'm not exactly sure what's going on. Sasuke falls to the ground and his boy weakens as if he's being drained of energy. That's it! Yoroi must be able to drain the chakra of his opponents! I want to call out to Sasuke in order to help him, but I know that if I do he'll just hate me more than he already does.

They exchange a few words before Sasuke suddenly shouts, "Get off me!" He lands a kick to Yoroi's stomach and sends the man flying off of him.

Sasuke shakily gets to his feet as Yoroi comes at him again. Sasuke is able to dodge Yoroi's hand, but he's shaky and unstable. Sasuke spin kicks at Yoroi, but he just jumps back out of the way. Naruto yells something to Sasuke, but I'm too distracted to hear it and Sasuke looks back at him. His eyes widen as if he just got an idea.

Yoroi runs at Sasuke, who keeps jumping back out of the way of his outstretched arm. Sasuke ducks down and kicks Yoroi up into the air and follows after him. I watch as Sasuke's curse mark starts to spread while he's in the air and my hands grip the railing so hard my knuckles turn white. For a few tense seconds the mark spreads over Sasuke's body, before it begins to recede. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and slump against the railing.

Sasuke pushes off against Yoroi's back and swings his leg up for a kick, but Yoroi blocks it. Sasuke quickly twists in the air and brings his arm around so that it hits Yoroi's chest. As the masked man falls toward the floor Sasuke brings his leg down, connecting with Yoroi's stomach. "Lion's Barrage!" He shouts and the man hits the floor. Both shinobi hit the floor and don't move.

For a few seconds nothing happens and Hayate walks over to Yoroi. Sasuke rises to his knees, with a lot of effort and heavy breathing. "I'm declaring this match over," Hayate says. "As the winner of this preliminary round, Sasuke Uchiha, advances to the finals."

"Good for him," I mutter and turn to my friends. "So before this fight started you were telling me that you call Kira, Sadistic Apricot-sensei."

"Yeah," Suzume says. "It's a long story, but she loves apricots and is really sadistic once to get to know her."

"I hate people and I used to work for the intelligence department where I got to torment people all the time," she says happily.

"It's okay, torture is one of my favorite past times," I smile and watch Kakashi lead Sasuke out of the arena.

"Alright let's move right onto the third match," Hayate says and we all turn to look at the screen. Shino Aburame verses Zaku Abumi. Meh, whatever I don't need to watch this fight. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Gaara staring at me, but I just ignore it and stare at the arena. I feel the dizzying pressure that comes with the beginning of a vision and allow my eyes to close.

When I open them again I'm in a room filled with pillars. Writing covers the floor and in the middle of it sits Sasuke with Kakashi standing behind him. I watch as Kakashi goes through a series of hand signs and places his hand over Sasuke's curse mark. The writing begins to move off the floor and slides up Sasuke's body before settling in a small ring around his curse mark.

Sasuke uses his hands to support himself as Kakashi says something I can't hear. Then my sensei's eye widens and Orochimaru steps out from behind a pillar. Kakashi spins around to face him and makes sure to block Sasuke with his body. The two men exchange a few words and Kakashi creates a Chidori, prepared to attack the snake man. The sudden flash of lightning in the dark room blinds me and I close my eyes to block it out.

I slowly open my eyes again as the sounds of people gasping reaches my ears. I blink a few times to clear my vision and realize I'm back in the arena. Looking down, I see Zaku on the ground with Shino standing over him. Looks like I missed a pretty good fight. Shino silently makes his way back up onto his balcony.

"Um, alright everyone," Hayate says dully. "Moving right on to the fourth match."

The names flash across the board again and stop on Misumi Tsurugi and Kankuro. "Hey Tora," A voice says behind me and I turn around quickly to see my perverted sensei.

"Are you okay?" I ask, worry laced in my voice.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

"That's right I haven't told you yet," I mutter. "Recently I've been starting to have visions of the present as well as the past. It happened once in the forest of death and then again just now. I watched as you sealed Sasuke's curse mark, but when Orochimaru appeared and you used your Chidori, the vision ended. I just wanted to know if you're okay."

"I'm fine," he assures me. "Sasuke's in the hospital right now, it seems the sealing was too much for him to handle and he passed out."

"Hey Tora, is this your sensei?" Luna asks getting really close to Kakashi's face to look at him.

"Yeah," I say and grab her shirt collar to pull her back. "Kakashi, this is Luna, Hikari, and Suzume. Luna, Hikari, and Suzume, this is my perverted sensei Kakashi."

"Kakashi?" Kira asks walking over to us. "What are you doing over here; shouldn't you be with your team?"

"Tora's actually one of my students," he explains. "I came over here to check on her, Naruto told me what the others said to you and I wanted to see if she was okay."

"What a minute," Luna says. "Does your last name happen to be Hatake?"

"Yes," he answers. "Why do you ask?"

"So that means you're the one whose name is written all over Sadistic Apricot-sensei's diary with hea-" Luna is cut off by Kira placing her hand over her mouth.

"Shut it kid," she growls. "Or I'm going to kill you."

"But isn't he the guy you lo- Hey what was that for?" Suzume shouts when Kira throws a kunai at her, barely grazing her face.

"I. Said. Shut. Up." Kira glares.

"But Sadistic Apricot-sensei," Hikari says. "Now's the perfect time to admit your fee-" Her words are cut off as Kira holds a Katana to her throat.

"If anyone says one more word about this, I will not hesitate to slit all of your throats, got it?" The three girls nod and Hikari slowly inches away from the blade at her neck. "And once we get out of here I'm going to punish all of you for reading my diary."

"Yes, Sadistic Apricot-sensei," they all say in unison.

"Do you understand what's going on?" Kakashi asks me.

"I think Kira has a crush on you," I smirk and nudge his arm. At the edge of his mask I'm sure I can see a faint blush as he stares at the sadistic woman.

"I do not have a crush on Kakashi!" Kira roars and turns on me. At that moment the entire arena falls silent and everyone looks over at us. Kira stands stock still, her face bright red.

"Hm, looks like the match is over," Hikari muses.

"Who won?" Luna asks squinting down at the arena.

"The dude with the face paint," Suzume answers.

"And now it looks like everyone knows that Kira has a crush on Kakashi and judging from his reaction, Kakashi likes Kira back," my words echo throughout the silent arena.

"I'm going to kill you!" Both sensei's shout and simultaneously lunge at me. I simply duck out of the way and the two crash into each other. They fall to the floor, Kakashi on top, their lips touching. The only barrier between them is Kakashi's mask. Both of them stare at each other in shock, before Kakashi stands up off of her. Even the part of Kakashi's face that isn't cover by his mask is red as he offers her his hand to help her up.

"Nice one Tora," Luna high fives me.

"I know," I smirk. "I should play matchmaker more often."

"You," Kakashi says grabbing my arm tightly. "Are coming with me, so I can keep an eye on you." He pulls me down the stairs, across the arena, and up the stairs on the other side. The glares I receive from the other Leaf ninja are, well let's just say they aren't very nice. I just ignore them and lean on the railing away from everyone else.

"Hey Tora!" Luna calls from across the arena.

"Yeah?" I shout back.

"Were totally setting our sensei's up together, right?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Shut up!" Kira and Kakashi shout at the same time and hit both of us on top of the head.

"Um," Hayate says trying to take back control of the exams. "Let's move on to the next fight."

Once again names flash across the screen and they stop on Sakura Haruno verses Ino Yamanaka. This fight should prove to be nothing less than boring. I decide to just stare off into the distance as memories of the first and only time I let Kurai out flood my mind.

_"__Yumi!" I squeal and hug the petite blonde to me._

_ "__Tora!" She squeals and hugs me back. "How are you?"_

_ "__Other than the fact that I'm being held captive by a fucking snake, I'm perfectly fine," I answer._

_ "__Language Tora," she scolds her bright green eyes shining with disapproval. "Just be glad he lets us see each other, I mean he could keep up at separate hide outs."_

_ "__I know," I sigh and look around me. We're in some sort of large stone cavern with what look like jail cells all around us. "Do you know why he brought us here?"_

_ "__No idea," she sighs. "But it can't be good."_

_ "__Welcome girls," Kabuto's smug voice says as he emerges from a tunnel near the top of the cavern, Orochimaru right behind him._

_ "__It's time we see the results of our last experiment on little Tora," Orochimaru smiles gruesomely and a shiver goes down my spine. "In order to test out your curse mark we have to put someone you love in danger. That's why little Yumi is here also."_

_ "__If you know what's good for you, you'll use the curse mark's power," Kabuto smirks. "Release the prisoners."_

_The metal bars of the prison cells creak open and tons of grotesque experiments slowly emerge from them. "Listen up," Orochimaru shouts. "The first one to kill those two little girls will be set free. You have two hours to do so, if I were you I would get moving."_

_ "__Tora," Yumi's voice quavers as the creatures start towards us._

_ "__Don't worry Yumi," I say. "I'll keep you safe, just stay behind me."_

_The overwhelming number of creatures surges to us and I get in a fighting stance. I take out ten creatures before I hear Yumi cry out from behind me. I spin around to see one of the creatures holding her up by the throat._

_ "__Yumi!" I shout as anger tears through me. Pain shoots across my body as I feel a warm sensation spread over my skin. I feel my conscious being pulled to the back of my mind and another presence invades my mind. I try to move my body to get to Yumi, but I've lost control of my limbs. The other presence sweeps through my brain, taking control of my body. My head looks down and I see my hand transform into a claw and a layer of orange fur grows over my body with black stripes._

_ '__W-what's going on?' I ask in my mind. 'W-why is this happening?'_

_ '__Poor little girl,' a woman's voice coos. 'You must be terrible confused.'_

_ '__W-Who are you?' I ask._

_ '__I am Kurai Tora and you my dear girl, are my new host.' She says._

_ '__How did you get inside me?'_

_ '__I have that oddly snake-like man to thank for that,' Kurai answers. 'When you were weakened by whatever he did to give you that black mark, I was able to fuse myself with it.'_

_ '__What are you going to do?'_

_ '__I'm going to quench a centuries old blood lust and I'm going to start with all the people in this room.'_

_I watch helplessly from my mind as Kurai uses my transformed body to slaughter all the experiments._

_ "__T-Tora," a weak voice whimpers. Kurai turns towards the voice to see Yumi cowering on the floor, drenched in the blood of the experiments._

_ "__Tora isn't here anymore," Kurai says in my voice._

_ '__Yumi run!' I shout, but I know she can't hear me. Kurai starts towards my best friend with slow steps, as if she were stalking her prey. 'No stop!'_

_ '__Why should I?' Kurai asks me. 'My blood lust isn't quenched and I said I would kill everyone in this room. If I spared her it would make me a liar.'_

_Kurai raises a clawed hand and Yumi curls in on herself, her body shaking. 'Please stop!' I plead._

_ '__Too late,' Kurai sings as she brings the claw down effectively separating Yumi's head from her body._

_ '__No!' I scream as my conscious pushes against hers, forcing her out of my mind. I take back control of my body and lay on the ground in a fetal position, sobbing in a sea of blood._

"Tora," a voice says as someone snaps their fingers in front of my face.

"Hm," I say looking at Naruto. "Did I miss something?"

"Just Sakura and Ino tying, Temari beating Tenten, and Shikamaru beating that sound ninja girl." Kakashi informs me.

"But look!" Naruto exclaims. "I'm up next!" I look up at the screen to see that he is indeed up next. Then I see that his opponent is Hikari.

"Good luck," I smile at him and he jumps over the railing to where Hikari is already standing.

"Do you think he can win?" Kakashi asks.

"I'm not sure," I muse. "I really don't know what Hikari's skills are."

"Well we'll find out soon enough," he mutters.

"Good luck Hikari!" I shout to her and she gives me a thumbs up.

"Let the match begin, now!" Hayate shouts.

Naruto puts his hands together in a hand sign and shouts, "Multi-shadow Clone Justsu!"

The clones rush at Hikari who just stands there as if she couldn't care less. The clones reach her and one tries to punch her and goes straight through her, leaving behind a pile of cherry blossoms. "What's going on here?" Naruto shouts and looks around wildly.

"I'm up here," Hikari says from a top the stone statue at the end of the arena. Naruto charges at her aiming a punch, but she just dodges out of the way as they go into a quick battle of taijutsu. Naruto gets in a punch to Hikari's stomach and sends her flying into the wall. She gets up quickly and makes a few hand signs. "Cherry Blossom Style: Storm of Petals!"

She throws her hands out in front of her and Sakura petals shoot from them, engulfing Naruto in a cloud of petals. When the petals finally fall to the ground, Naruto stands in the middle of them. Dozens of cuts cover his body, but they don't seem too serious. "That was a cool jutsu," Naruto says. "But it's not enough to keep me down."

"Then I'll just half to do it again," Hikari says. "Storm of Petals!"

Once again the Sakura petals engulf Naruto, but when they clear he's nowhere to be found. "Where'd he go?" I hear Sakura ask.

Cautiously Hikari makes her way to the pile of petals in the middle of the arena. Just as she passes where Naruto was previously standing there's a puff of smoke and the petals turn into a bunch of Naruto's. One sends a kick to Hikari's stomach and she flies into the air.

"Nar-u-to," the clones shout kicking Hikari farther into the air with each syllable. "Uzumaki Barrage!" One last Naruto swings his leg around, his foot connecting with Hikari's back and she shoots down into the floor. All of the Naruto's disappear, but one and Hikari lays unmoving in a crater in the ground.

"Since Hikari Sakura is unable to continue," Hayate announces. "The winner of this match is Naruto Uzumaki."

Kira appears on the ground next to Hikari's unconscious form and picks her up before jumping back up to the balcony and laying her down against the wall.

"I did it!" Naruto cheers as he comes back to the balcony. He immediately embraces me in a tight hug and whispers in my ear. "I don't care what the others say, you're not a monster and I'm not going to shun you."

"Thank you, Naruto." I whisper back. "Oh and congratulations!"

"On to the next round!" Hayate says. The names on the screen stop on Hinata Hyuga verses Neji Hyuga. I hope Hinata kicks Neji's ass. I ignore the whole speech from Lee on how Neji is Hinata's cousin, but hates her because she's from the head family and he's from the branch family. The only reason he's bitter is because he has to serve the head family for the rest of his life. At least his family acknowledges him, which is more than I ever got.

"You may begin when you are ready," Hayate says. Neji starts to say something to Hinata, but I tune him out in favor of watching Gaara. Right now he's standing stock still with his arms crossed over his chest and a sexy scowl on his face. Wait, did I really just call his scowl sexy? There's something definitely wrong with me, but I really don't care.

His sea green eyes follow the movements of the fight below and I wish he would look at me so I can see them better. His nose is scrunched up slightly as if he was disgusted with everyone here and his lips are set in a slight frown. I wonder what it would be like to kiss those lips, to see those empty eyes filled with emotion. Is it strange that I'm attracted to him, when any sane girl would run away scared? Then again, I'm not really sane, am I?

"Hinata!" Naruto screams, jolting me out of my thoughts. I look down to see Hinata on the ground, coughing up blood. I along with Naruto, Sakura and Lee jump down to the arena floor and race over to her. "Hinata, hey are you okay?"

"I just… I… do you… do you think," her weak voice fades out as her eyes close.

"Naruto move," I order and kneel down next to the girl.

"What are you doing?" Kurenai asks.

"I know a little bit of medical ninjutsu," I answer. "I'm going to see how she's doing."

"Okay," Kurenai nods and my hands begin to glow a soft green color. I place them over her body and assess the damage.

"This isn't good," I mutter and hear Naruto shout something in the background.

"What isn't good?" Kurenai asks, her voice laced with worry.

"She took a direct his to the heart. The Gentle Fist technique cuts off the flow of chakra and in this case Neji hit one of the most vital points near her heart." I explain. "I can't heal this; we need someone with more experience to take care of her. Her entire chakra network is shutting down."

"What can we do?" She asks me.

"I have a way to keep her alive until the medics arrive, but it's not exactly the most… pleasant thing in the world."

"I don't care, just do it."

"Okay," I mutter and take off the glove on my left hand. I unzip Hinata's jacket and lift her fishnet to expose her stomach. I then take a kunai and cut the fishnet around her heart. Using the kunai I slice my arm, just below the elbow and watch as the crimson blood bubbles to the surface. I dip my right hand in the blood and write the kanji for life over her heart. I dip my fingers again and write the kanji for mind on her forehead. I dip my fingers one last time and write the kanji for spirit above her bellybutton, the main area that chakra gathers in the body.

Bringing my hands up, I make the Tiger seal and focus on transferring a part of my life force into hers. The kanji's on her body glow a bright blue before fading and disappearing from her skin, signaling the jutsu is complete. Sighing I release the flow of my life force and allow my body to relax.

"What did you do?" Kurenai asks staring down at Hinata whose breathing has evened out. I notice that everyone in the room is watching me now.

"It's an ability I got from an experiment Orochimaru did on me." I explain as I pull out a needle and thread from my weapons pouch and begin sewing the cut on my arm. I made it a little deeper than it needed to be, but I haven't done this in a while, so give me a break. "It allows me to transfer a piece of my life force into another person. It temporarily supplies their body with the energy it needs to stay alive. It comes in handy when you're out in the field and someone needs immediate medical attention or they'll die. If you hurry to get them back to the village or someplace with a medic, they will survive. But it's only temporary and normally lasts for about three hours."

"That's amazing," she breathes and stares down at Hinata.

"I know," I say and tie a knot at the end of my amateur stitches. I bite the thread near my arm and store the needle back in my pouch. Exhaustion takes over my body as my eyes slowly begin to close. "Not that this hasn't been fun or anything, it's just that this jutsu takes a lot out of me." I let out a yawn and stretch my arms above my head. "I'm just gonna take a little nap." I lie down on the floor next to Hinata and allow the darkness to overtake me.

Hi guys, I know this is short again, but I really wanted to update. I promise I'll have the next chapter (and the end of the prelims) done by next weekend. Let me know how I'm doing in a review. Enjoy.

~C.S.


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